Experiences
by Ithilas
Summary: MovieVerse The Decepticons found the Witwicky family when Sam was only eight. What kind of life do you live when you've been raised by an Autobot named Bumblebee?
1. Chapter 1

Experiences

Once again betaed by Rainlightautumn because I'm utterly incompetent when it comes to fending off attacks by rogue commas and other grammar thingies.

DoX

**Text Messaging**

_Real Time Events ('Cause Sam is asleep at the moment)_

DoX

Eight-year-old Samuel James Witwicky was scared. No, he had long ago passed the point of being scared; "terrified past the point of all rationality" would probably be a good way to phrase it. Small hands held on tightly to the battered case of an even more battered pair of eyeglasses that he'd found just before the house began to shake violently. He'd had only moments to stumble his way downstairs before the roof of the house was torn off and one of the falling pieces of debris hit in him on the head, knocking him out cold for the next hour.

When he'd finally awoken, it had been to his father's pained screams and his mother's terrified pleading. Slowly, he'd pushed away the large piece of drywall that had been shielding him from view and forced himself to stand. In the clearing where his grandfather's house had been built in were three large figures standing over two smaller ones that he knew, without having to be told, belonged to his parents. Absently holding onto the glasses still in his hands, Sam had climbed his way out of the wreckage in an attempt to reach his parents. He'd frozen in place climbing over what he thought used to be the stairs when a pair of scarlet optics immediately locked onto him and now here he was trembling with fear at the dark promise lurking there.

"RUN SAMMY!"

His mother's voice shocked him into moving as he instinctively recognized the unfamiliar tone in her voice when she noticed him standing amongst the debris of the house. A small whine escaped his throat as he nodded his head and immediately whirled around to begin his headlong run through the forest his grandfather's house was situated in. In spite of himself, Sam couldn't stop from looking over his shoulder as he started running, although later on he would wish he hadn't. Tears fell freely from his eyes; he ignored the stinging pain of the wayward branches smacking him in the face as he forced himself to run as fast as he could. Sam nearly sobbed in relief as he rolled down a steep embankment to land roughly on the asphalt of one of the few roads in the area.

The sounds of screeching tires made his eyes snap up. He was met with the sight of a yellow Camaro stopped just inches from his nose with the passenger side door opened invitingly. Brown eyes darted back and forth between the forest and the open door before the young child made up his mind and pushed himself to his feet. Sam slammed the door of the car closed just as the three figures that his mother had told him to run from emerged from the surrounding foliage. Glancing over to the driver's side to tell the driver to leave and leave quickly, his words froze in his throat as his mind registered the fact that the seat where the driver normally sat was empty.

DoX

"_Slag it all! Bumblebee, you need to get out of the way!"_

"_How is he?" _

"_Alive. But __**you**__ won't be if you continue to get in my way."_

"_But—"_

"_Jazz! Get your Pit-spawned aft in here and get this little glitch out before I do something more than dent him!"_

"_C'mon Bee. Ya know better than to get in the Hatchet's way when he's workin'."_

"_But Sam…"_

"_Sam'll be fine. Ya know ol' Hatchet'll fix 'im up in no time, 'specially with the way he's scarin' the human medics."_

DoX

Large metal fingers brushed gently against the feverish forehead of the child sleeping fitfully in the safety of his arms. Blue optics darkened as the child began to cry in his sleep again and he cursed himself silently for not being fast enough to beat the Decepticons. The first casualties of his people's war being brought to this planet were devastating. By the time he'd managed to figure out which of the thousands of Witwicky's the Decepticons had targeted, Bumblebee had been too late to save any of the family--with the exception of the youngest, Sam. The slim consolation of the ordeal the youngling had been forced to endure was that the boy carried with him the very thing that they were searching for.

The glasses that had the coordinates to the location of the Allspark etched upon them.

Bumblebee's hold on the tired boy tightened unconsciously as he thought of the scene that he had come across as he raced along the road leading to the house owned by the youngest son of Captain Archibald Witwicky. His scanners had been occupied with tracing the movements of the three Decepticons in the forest so he'd been distracted when the frail body had tumbled onto the roadway before him. His tires were still sore from the amount of friction that had been caused when he'd slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the child. An astrosecond had passed while his processor rapidly brought up the picture of Samuel James Witwicky, and he'd been astonished to learn that the child lying on the road was none other than one of the ones he'd been sent to protect.

He hadn't thought any further than that when he'd popped the passenger side door open in a desperate plea for the child to climb into the safety that his interior would provide. For a brief, Spark-chilling moment, he'd worried that the child would rise and continue to run instead of allowing Bumblebee to protect him. But he hadn't run. Instead he'd forced himself to enter Bumblebee's interior and, while frightened by the sight of a driverless car, the child had remained seated and had even taken the initiative to connect the safety harness.

It had taken Bumblebee nearly an entire orn to escape the Decepticons. He hadn't wanted to stop and fight them. Not with the precious cargo that he carried with him. Protecting the child curled up in his seats was more important to him than maintaining his pride by fighting the Decepticons when he had no safe place to leave the child. Three orns later and both he and the youngling were exhausted beyond belief while Bumblebee's scans showed signs that the youngling had become infected with a virus of some sort. Based on the information he was able to gather from the internet, he'd come to the conclusion that the youngling's body was simply too tired to protect itself against viruses and that with time the virus would leave his systems. Or at least he hoped so. Not being able to communicate with his charge was at the best of times a frustrating aspect of their situation, but with the youngling sick there was no way for him to remedy that. He would simply have to wait a little longer before finding a way to communicate to his charge that he wanted him to purchase a cell phone--preferably one with text message capabilities.

DoX

"_Samuel will be remaining with us, Secretary Keller."_

"_But the boy has family willing to take him in. Surely you agree that the boy would be better off with his family."_

"_Normally I would agree, but in this instance it is not in the best interests of the boy to be removed from our custody. He has spent the past nine years in the care of Bumblebee and would most likely refuse to leave if he were conscious. As it is I will not allow you to remove him from our care until Samuel himself agrees to it."_

"_Sir, if I may?"_

"_What is it, Lennox?"_

"_He's been living with one of the Autobots for so long that I don't think he's ready to reintegrate himself into human society. From what I've been given to understand, school was hard enough for him to handle."_

"_I understand that, Lennox. But his family has been living under the belief that he died with his parents. Is it really too much for them to want the boy back with them?"_

DoX

Brown eyes stared worriedly up at the injured mech sitting next to him on the cold concrete flooring of the warehouse they'd been hiding in for the past two hours. Lips tightened into a grim line, Sam stood up and un-slung his backpack letting it drop quietly to the floor. Unzipping it he dug into its contents before taking out a pair of well worn leather gloves, pulling them on he stared up at his guardian with determination bright in his eyes. "Put yourself into stasis lock, Bee, and get my tools out of subspace. Either you do it or I'll find a way to _make _you do it. It's been two hours, if I wait any longer to treat you then it won't matter if you're in stasis lock or not."

As he backed away, Sam's expression remained pleading until it faded into relief still tinged with concern when the yellow 'bot stretched out on the concrete floor after retrieving the battered metal lockbox he needed. Waiting until the vibrant glow of the blue optics dimmed, Sam opened the metal box digging around for the tools that he knew he would need. When he'd been eight he'd never thought that in five years time he would know more about mechanical engineering and hacking than most of the experts in those fields. Then again, he never thought that he'd be forced to watch his parents die and nearly die himself before bring rescued. Swiftly pulling his shoulder length brown hair into a ponytail that rested at the nape of his neck, Sam pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and climbed agilely onto the dormant bot's frame.

He gasped when he was finally able to get a good look at the extent of the damage caused by their latest run in with the Deceptions. He'd known the damage would be bad simply by the way that Bee was sitting in the hours that they'd spent in the warehouse. He'd wanted to start fixing him as soon as they had found the hiding place, but his guardian refused to let him, saying that he needed to be online in case the Decepticons found them and they needed to make a hasty exit…again. "Slag it all," the thirteen-year-old whispered viciously under his breath. He walked carefully along Bumblebee's frame to where the trunk compartment was on the mech's form to retrieve the laptop that he knew was kept safe there.

Four hours later he was sweaty, exhausted, and covered from head to toe in the blue liquid energon that could be found like oil in the mech's structure. Falling onto his butt, Sam dragged his knees up to his chest before wrapping his arms around them and burying his face there. Hot tears stung his eyes as his mind reeled with the realization of how close he had come to losing Bumblebee, of how close he had come to being all alone again. He'd never been driven to the lengths that he'd gone to while he worked feverishly to stop and repair the energon leaks that he'd found in the systems check. Thankfully most of them had been in the secondary lines while only two of the leaks had been in the main lines. Unfortunately for him, the two main line leaks were more than enough to threaten the stasis locked mechanoid's Spark.

Idly Sam wondered what the rest of the Autobots would think of a human being raised like someone from Cybertron. Bumblebee seemed to think that Ratchet would take to him immediately simply because of the innate talent he seemed to have for repairing Bumblebee's damage whether internal or external. Rubbing at his eyes tiredly, careful not to get any of the still drying energon in his eyes, Sam yawned widely as the adrenaline that had been driving him slowly ebbed. His eyes closed and his head fell back to rest on the familiar metal frame of Bumblebee as he fell into sleep, never noticing the blue liquid on his hands slowly fading.

DoX

"—_the Allspark. I don't understand how it could have integrated into an organic life form."_

"_We have always had suspicions that the Allspark was sentient, Bumblebee. This is simply a confirmation of those theories."_

"_But our war has already taken so much from him, Ratchet. He never asked to be involved with any of this, and yet he's always acquitted himself in a manner befitting that of a soldier rather than a youngling. How am I supposed to tell him what else he's lost as a result of our war?"_

DoX

Breathing heavily, Sam warily eyed the black Decepticon that was fighting to get past his guardian to him. Digging into the back pocket of his jeans, Sam's fingers brushed reassuringly against the eyeglass case before brushing against something else. Wrapping his fingers around the object Sam pulled it out, his attention divided between the object in his hand and the fighting mechs. Glancing at the pair of wire cutters in his hands, an unholy grin crossed his face as he hurriedly sent a text message to Bumblebee before sprinting across the empty lot they'd been cornered in.

A loud burst of music from above him caused him to look up and hurriedly throw himself to the ground as a large foot passed overhead to land with an earth shaking thump beside his prone body. Scrambling back up, Sam continued running towards the black mech whose foot was now right next to him. Muscles tensing, he bent his knees slightly before jumping up onto the metallic foot and clinging to it tenaciously as it moved. Shifting his body around so that he could free the hand holding the pair of wire cutters, his blue eyes darted around the immense frame looking for the sensitive wires hidden beneath the Decepticon's armor.

Eyes gleaming with triumph as he spotted the panel he was looking for, Sam hissed as his hands were burned by the automatic defensive mechanisms coming online. Ignoring the pain in his hands he forced the panel up and rapidly cut the wiring he was searching for. Tumbling to the ground with a grunt as the leg crumpled from the lack of support, Sam rolled to his feet before dashing to the transformed Camaro waiting for him with the driver's side door already open. Throwing himself onto the leather seats, trembling hands carefully set the wire cutters onto the passenger seat, wincing at the loud roar of anger that came from the downed mech behind them.

**That was by far the most dangerous stunt you have ever pulled in my presence, Sam.**

Grinning unrepentantly at the text message from his guardian, Sam rubbed the Autobot emblem on the center of the steering wheel absently as he responded, "Yeah, but it was kinda fun. In an "oh Primus I'm going to be scrap metal" sort of way."

**You were lucky that it was Blackout who discovered our presence and not Barricade or Starscream.**

"Hey! I can so handle that whiny little glitch Starscream any day!"

**And yet I notice that you say nothing in regards to Barricade.**

"That's because Barricade has that freaky little piece of scrap metal that he calls Frenzy!" The car's engine revved as though chuckling at the remark made by the teen. "I swear that Stephen King must have had a nightmare about Barricade and Frenzy when he wrote Christine. What else could make someone think to write a book about a psychotic, homicidal car?"

**For the love of Primus, please keep that observation to yourself the next time we are unfortunate enough to cross paths with Barricade. The last time that you referred to Frenzy as the robotic adaptation of Pet Semetary come to life, he nearly offlined you before I was able to come to your assistance. Although with the increasing amount of parallels you are making between the Decepticons and Stephen King, perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask for you to find different reading material.**

"But Bee!" The fourteen-year-old protested, blue eyes sparkling with barely suppressed mirth, "Did you see the look on Barricade's face when I said that Frenzy was his pet?"

DoX

"_Where is Bumblebee?"_

"_In recharge. I had to get Ironhide to hold him down long enough for me to override his systems and force him into one."_

"_I see. And Sam?"_

"_He's as well as can be expected, Optimus. His body's healing but from what Bumblebee's told me, I am more concerned about his mental state when he awakens."_

"_What happens will happen, Ratchet. Although much of this could have been avoided had we simply dealt with Soundwave and the others before we were knocked off course."_

"_What happened to Bumblebee and Sam is not your fault, Optimus. We had no way of knowing that the situation on Earth had deteriorated so rapidly."_

"_Words alone cannot excuse the consequences that our war has brought to both the planet and the youngling, Ratchet."_

"_And the blame isn't yours to shoulder alone. If you insist on blame being placed, then we will gladly hold that burden with you."_

DoX

**Are you well, Sam?**

Glancing up into the concerned visage of Bumblebee, Sam nodded his head before turning away to stare at the setting sun. "I'm just thinking."

**I see. Will you be requiring painkillers once this momentous occasion has passed?**

"Hey! I'll have you know that I can think without hurting myself," Sam retorted his voice softening before he continued. "Um…Bee?"

**Yes?**

"Do you—Do you ever wonder what we'd be like if things were different?"

**What do you mean?**

"I mean, do you ever wonder what would have happened if the Decepticons hadn't decided to go to my grandpa's house looking for him on the same day that my parents were there packing up his things after the funeral?" Sam asked quietly, refusing to look over at his guardian as he moved to sit next to him on the sandy hill they were resting on.

**We cannot change the past, Sam. What has happened is in the past and thinking on it will only bring you pain.**

"Maybe, but I was just thinking that if my parents could see me now that they wouldn't recognize me," Sam smiled wistfully, his hair shadowing his eyes as he tilted his head downwards. "I've read that our experiences are what shape us, and I was wondering what kind of person I'd be if I didn't know everything that I know now. You know, like how I would react about finding out all of this. Would I be okay with it, would I freak out? Just wondering if the person I am now is better than the person I _could_ have been."

**That is something that only Primus knows. The person that I would give my Spark to protect is someone I believe to be worth protecting. It may be small comfort to you, but let it be a comfort nonetheless.**

"I guess that means that the person I am now _is_ better than the person I could have been."

**And how have you reached that conclusion?**

"Because I have you here with me, Bee," Sam said sincerely, meeting his guardian's blue optics as he spoke softly. "Anything that ends with you by my side has to be worth it. And since experiences shape us that means that all of my experiences with you make the person I am now much more appealing than any other version of me could possibly be. You were the only thing that got me through those weeks with Sector Seven. Seeing you again was the strongest motivator I had for escaping."

DoX

"_We talked about this once. When he was fifteen by Earth's measurements."_

"_Bee…"_

"_He was scared that his Creators would disapprove of the person he had become while in my care."_

"_Gotta be tough for anyone to be thinkin' that 'bout their Creators."_

"_It was. He wanted to know if the person he was then was any better or worse than the person that he could have become had our war not interfered."_

"_It ain't your fault, Bee. Ya did what ya could, what ya felt was the right thing to be doin'. Jus' sometimes your best ain't good enough for what we gotta do."_

DoX

"I want to get a job."

Ignoring the questioning optics on him, Sam folded his arms underneath his head as he stared up at the twinkling stars lining the night sky in the meadow in which they were spending the night. "Frenzy keeps tracking us by following the ATM's we're hacking to get money. I can find work at a garage and maybe we'll be able to stay for longer than an orn in one place."

**I apologize for my deficiencies in providing for you, Sam.**

"It's not that, Bee," Sam said quietly. "I know that you feel bad taking the money from the ATM's just so that I'll have something to eat with. Besides, it's not like me finding a job is the end of the world. It'll be good for me to be doing something that I know I'm good at."

**And what of your studies?**

"Maybe we can see about faking the paperwork for me to go to an actual school?"

DoX

"_You wanted to speak with me, Ratchet?"_

"_When did he first begin to change, Bumblebee?"_

"…"

"_I was a medic long before your Spark was even created. I know that some of the changes in his body are far too old for the Allspark to be responsible. I need to know when he started changing so that I can treat him correctly."_

"_By Earth's measurements, he was thirteen years old when the changes first began. One day his eyes were blue, rather than the brown they had been the previous day. After that, the changes continued until he was able to connect with me in much the same manner that any of us are capable of doing."_

"_Why did you not tell us, __**any of us**__, about this?"_

"_Because I made an oath to him that I would never speak of it unless his life could be saved with that knowledge. So much has already been taken from him; I would not take the trust he holds in me from him as well."_

DoX

Nine years is a long time. It might not seem so long for the ones he was waiting for, but when you'd spent the majority of your youth in hiding from beings that wanted nothing more than to take the only thing you had left to remind you that everything wasn't always like this, nine years seemed more like a thousand.

Washing the grease from his hands, a tall youth grinned at the older men around him who were just as covered in grease as he was. Flicking water playfully at them, he dried his hands and ducked behind the service counter to retrieve his backpack from where he'd dropped it after coming there straight after school. Stepping out of the garage that he worked in, the teen paused for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the fading sunlight before walking to the yellow '75 Camaro parked just outside. Keys in hand he fumbled for a moment pretending to unlock the already unlocked door before pulling the door open and sliding onto the familiar leather seats. "Ready to go?" he asked softly, his hands rubbing the steering wheel gently as the car's engine turned over and pulled into traffic with the radio turned on.

Like it had been for the past two years, the drive to the place they currently called home was uneventful and both car and 'driver' were grateful that it hadn't yet changed. Grabbing his backpack from the passenger seat the brown-haired youth got out of the car to stretch, a pleasant smile curving his lips as the familiar sounds of metal shifting behind him reached his ears. Lowering his arms from where'd he raised them above his head, he walked towards the far end of the warehouse they'd stopped in. Eyeing the battered couch in the corner he was walking towards, he flopped down onto its comfortable cushioning with a tired sigh.

Twisting from his cozy position to dig into the pocket of his jeans, he pulled his cell phone out and flipped it open to read the text message his phone had buzzed for.

**You should get some sleep, Sam.**

Pushing himself up so that he was sitting instead of lying facedown on the couch, brilliant blue eyes looked up at his transformed guardian. The yellow robot stood over sixteen feet tall and was the same eye gouging shade of yellow that he was when in his alt. mode, complete with black stripes as well. "Something up, Bee?"

Glancing down at his cell phone when it alerted him to a new text message, he couldn't help but remember how hard it had been when he was eight and hadn't been able to talk to his guardian. Blue eyes darkened slightly as he read the text message from his guardian and he wondered not for the first time what the other Autobots would make of him.

**They will arrive tomorrow night. **

After all, he was pretty sure that when the leader of the Autobots had sent Bumblebee to protect the descendents of Archibald Witwicky, he hadn't been counting on Sam being _raised_ by the yellow 'bot, or on the bond that had formed as a result.

DoX

"_If he hadn't clamped the leaks when he did, there wouldn't have been anything I would have been able to do for you. Energon deprivation would have set in long before the battle ended. His work is well done considering that he still lacks formal training."_

"_He was an excellent student."_

"_As were you if you taught him to complete repairs of this magnitude on your system. And here I was worried that all those vorns spent trying to teach you something were going to waste."_

"_No. He learned quite a bit on his own through the experience that running gave him."_

"_Hmm…I can't argue that. But you still gave him a good base to build his skills from. You should be proud that you trained such a gifted medic, Bumblebee."_

DoX

Today was just not his day. He'd gone to school, mouthed off to that idiot Trent and had begun walking to the garage for work while Bumblebee was busy figuring out what time the Autobots would arrive and where. He hadn't expected to find a _very_ familiar Saleen trailing behind him from the second that he left the school grounds. Of all the stupid things he had done, staying behind after school without Bee waiting for him outside had to be one of the stupidest. Glancing at the police car from the corner of his eyes, Sam tightened the straps of his backpack before breaking into a run down the sidewalk. Turning to look back, Sam missed seeing the upraised edge of the sidewalk he was running down and ended up tripping over it to land heavily on his hands and knees. Ignoring the fact that Mikaela--who might he add was looking quite well--was asking him if he was alright, Sam pushed himself to his feet and continued his frantic run.

"Oh Primus, Bee! I'm in big trouble. Like the kind of trouble you get in when you have Barricade behind you and you're running like you're psycho to try and get away!"

Holding onto the cell phone tightly, Sam's eyes darted down to read the incoming text message on his phone. **I am on my way, Sam. Please try to avoid contact until I arrive. **

Sam snorted. "Right, 'cause you know I'm all about jumping giant robots that are like three times my size."

Crawling beneath a section of fence that had been cut, Sam ran into one of the older industrial districts in town. Darting between the multitude of old warehouses, Sam prayed that he would be able to run long enough and would be skilled enough to avoid getting caught until his guardian could get there. It was the last thought he had before he was slammed violently from the side, the impact lifting him off of his feet and throwing him onto the windshield of an abandoned car, causing it to break beneath him. Massive black armored hands slammed down on the car's hood on either side of him as red optics peered down at him, a glimmer of satisfaction visible.

"You have nowhere left to run fleshling, and your guardian is not here to protect you. Tell me where the glasses are and I may be persuaded to make your death swift."

Grimacing against the pain that was flaring in his ribs, Sam gathered himself enough to duck beneath the mechanical hands and roll to land on the packed dirt. One arm wrapped around his aching ribs, Sam sprinted away from Barricade as the mech swatted aside the car he'd been thrown onto like it was nothing more than a child's plaything.

**Almost there, just hold on for a few more seconds.**

Reading his guardian's message with relief, Sam's expression turned into one of pure horror as he realized that a Vespa was driving into the abandoned lot. A Vespa with a very familiar rider. Waving his arms in the air wildly in an attempt to get her attention, Sam cursed under his breath and pulled Mikaela from her Vespa as soon as the girl was close enough.

"What the hell is your problem, Sam?"

Ignoring the indignant questions, Sam tugged desperately on her hand trying to get her to stand and start running before Barricade could catch up to them. "He's coming! Come on! You need to get up! _Get up,_ Mikaela!" Glaring at the teenaged boy still tugging on her hands, Mikaela's jaw dropped as she got her first glance at the mechanical monster that was still pursuing Sam. "Wha—Wha—What _is_ that?"

"No time!" Sam yelled as he finally succeeded in lifting the girl from the ground and heard the sound of squealing tires behind them. Looking behind him, Sam let loose a relieved grin at the familiar yellow Camaro racing down the lot's entryway. Urging the stunned girl to her feet, Sam watched as Bumblebee collided with Barricade knocking the transformed mech's legs out from beneath him before swinging around to come to a stop in front of the two teens. "Get in the car Mikaela! Just get in the car and I'll explain later okay?"

DoX

"_Ya mean to tell me tha' the kid can read and write our language, Bee?"_

"_Yes. But without a functioning vocal capacitor I was unable to further his studies in our language. He was quite insistent on learning our language since during the times I fell into an emergency stasis-lock, my operating systems reverted back to Cybertronian letters."_

"_So what if ya didn't teach 'im to speak our language. It's not like he coulda done it anyway. He ain't built like us, so his vocal capacitor wouldn't be able to handle the stress that speakin' it would cause."_

"_Perhaps. But I don't believe that the humans refer to the biological device that governs their speech capabilities as a vocal capacitor, Jazz."_

"_Oh, what they callin' it then?"_

"_Look it up."_

"_Don' want to, and I'm older than ya are, so I can make ya do the lookin' __**for **__me."_

"_You might want to see Ratchet if your processor is beginning to fritz with the onset of senility."_

DoX

_  
_He'd known that Optimus Prime would be big, but nothing in Bee's stories could have prepared him for the sheer height of the Autobots' leader. Beside him he could feel Mikaela trembling as the other 'bots began to transform as well. Absorbed in staring at the Autobots, Sam missed the scan that Ratchet ran over him and Mikaela, as well as the medic's announcement that according to his society's standards he was underweight. Flinching when he felt the heated blue gaze of his guardian on him, Sam read the incoming text message with trepidation wondering what he could have done to make his guardian so…well…upset.

**Why would you be underweight, Sam? I clearly recall you purchasing foodstuffs for consumption, so I know that you have been eating. But my question is; have you been eating enough?**

"Well, I uh…" Sam winced as his guardian dropped down to one knee to stare at him piercingly, as though daring the teen to lie. "We were running low on money and you were hurt so I used some of the food money to get the parts to repair you."

**You did what?**

Sam had never before been so glad that his guardian was incapable of speech. Just reading the text message was bad enough, especially when combined with the shock and not a little bit of anger coursing through his guardian's metal frame. "It was only a couple of meals here and there. 'Sides, it's not like the guys at the garage never bought me food while I was there after school."

**You should not have done that without first consulting me, Sam.**

"Right, like you would have let me do it if I had told you," Sam replied angrily, his own blue eyes meeting his guardian's as the pair ignored everyone around them, including the Autobots who were listening to both sides of the conversation since Bee had yet to change the Cybertronian frequency his phone was using. "You needed the parts so I did what I had to do. No sacrifice, no victory remember?"

**I could have survived without you sacrificing your personal health, Sam.**

Sam snorted derisively. "Yeah right. And what would have happened if the Decepticons had found us? You would have been turned into scrap metal if I'd have left you as you were and if I was _lucky_ they might have been merciful enough to kill me without torturing me first."

**I would have protected you from any such occurrence.**

"I told you when you started teaching me how to repair you that I would do everything I could to make sure that you were always ready to fight, Bee," Sam said his hands clenching into angry balls at his side. "Do you remember that? Or has your processor malfunctioned?"

"Enough." Optimus' voice broke through the angry words being traded back and forth with an air of quiet command underlining his voice. "I believe we have much to discuss. But if we could first get to the matter of where the glasses are currently located?"

DoX

"_Um…Bumblebee?"_

"_Yes, Mikaela?"_

"_I just…I just wanted to ask about…Well I wanted to ask about Sam's parents. What happened to them?"_

"_The Decepticons discovered the biological descendants of Sam's great-great-grandfather before I was able to. He watched his parents die before he ran into the woods surrounding the remains of the house his grandfather owned, in accordance with his mother's last wishes."_

"_I—I didn't know."_

"_You could not have. Sam has always refused to speak at length about it, even to me. I have refused to pressure him about the details of what he witnessed that day and perhaps it is for the best that I did not."_

"_But—But why?"_

"_Because the pain of that day still haunts him and until he has learned to accept it, it would be unwise for any of us to force him to speak of it when he cannot speak of it even to himself."_

DoX

"What are we doing at a cemetery?"

Ignoring the whispered question, Sam exited the Camaro and began to walk through the wrought iron gates leading in. He hadn't been back here in years, not since he'd hidden the glasses after he'd been kidnapped by Sector Seven when he was fifteen. Stopping before a pair of well maintained graves, Sam trailed his fingers across the names engraved into the smooth marble.

Ron and Judy Witwicky.

His parents.

Biting his lower lip until it began to bleed, Sam unscrewed the top of the permanent flower vase that had been put between his parent's graves and pulled the long tube out before laying it on the grassy ground. Reaching into the hole left by the tube being removed, Sam pulled out a worn case that still held a pair of cracked glasses inside. Sam replaced the tube back into the ground as he heard Mikaela walking towards him, standing and dusting the grass off of the knees of his jeans.

"Who are they?"

"Nobody," Sam answered calmly as he slid the case into his back pocket. "Let's go before they decide to come looking for us."

"I don't think so," a recognizable male voice said in a sing-song tone behind him. "We've been looking for you for a long time, Samuel James Witwicky. Or should I just call you Samuel James?"

"Sector Seven."

"Awww…I'm so happy that you remember me. Spares us the introductions."

DoX

"_Sir, I have a request."_

"_What is it, Bumblebee?"_

"_Sam was kidnapped by Sector Seven and was held captive for three weeks before he was able to escape their custody while he was only fifteen by Earth standards. Will Lennox has expressed concern over Simmons' request that Sam submit to testing in their facilities. I ask that you decline any such requests that Secretary Keller may make on their behalf, sir."_

"_I shall do my best to ensure that Sam will not be forced back into their custody, Bumblebee. On that you have my word."_

"_Thank you, sir."_

DoX

"So, how you been, Sam?" Agent Simmons airily asked the silent teen glaring at him from where he was restrained in the back seat of the SUV he'd been shoved into with Mikaela. "How's your giant guardian doing?"

Silence.

"Now, don't be like that, Sam. I know we didn't get off of the right foot the last time, but at least I'm not going to throw you in the asylum like my grandfather did to your great-great-grandfather. Of course, if we had known that contact with the NBE would affect his biological structure we wouldn't have done that."

"You haven't changed at all have you?" Sam muttered still glaring mutinously at the man smiling at him. "You're still a fragging little glitch that needs to be scrapped."

"Don't tell me that you haven't missed me, Sammy." Simmons leered at the bound teen. "We've spent so much time looking for you, you know. The scientists are just waiting to see if your reaction has changed any since the last tests."

"Leave him alone!" Mikaela yelled, a bit unnerved by the conversation and the fact that they were being kidnapped by a government agency that didn't technically exist.

"I see that your choice in acquaintances has changed," Simmons bit out. "You're hanging around with felons in training now instead of NBE's."

DoX

"_So you found out, huh?"_

"_You knew?"_

"_I didn't know until Ironhide told me after Mission City. Makes me respect the kid even more."_

"_I—I said some really horrible things to him. Before. About him having a perfect life. I didn't—I swear I didn't know."_

"_Do you think he wants your pity?"_

"_Wh—What?"_

"_Sam. Do you think he wants your pity?"_

"_It's not pity! I just—"_

"_So you're feeling sorry for yourself?"_

"_NO!"_

"_I don't know what you said and I don't want to know, but you gotta stop thinking that telling him 'you didn't know' is gonna fix anything."_

"_Will…"_

"_Look. We all said some pretty harsh things to him back there, and he knows why we said them. You gotta let him come to us. You can't go trying to force him to forgive you after he wakes up, especially when the kid ain't ever gonna come straight out and say it."_

DoX

"When've you ever had to sacrifice _anything_ in your perfect little life? Did you cry 'cause you didn't get the latest Xbox for Christmas? All pouty 'cause you only got an old Camaro instead of a new Corvette?"

Sam inhaled sharply, taking a step back as though Mikaela's words were hurting him physically. "Don't," he hissed out, "Don't assume that you know _anything_ about my life. Don't you _dare_ tell me that I don't know anything about sacrifice when all I've ever known since I was eight is sacrifice."

Their argument was broken by the sounds of helicopter rotors and the sounds of fast approaching cars. Illuminated by the spotlights of the helicopters, Sam and Mikaela were scooped up and deposited onto the large shoulder of Optimus. The other Autobots transformed and left, Optimus following behind them with the two teens clinging tightly to the metal frame. Fingers bleeding with the strain of holding onto the shoulder plates as they hung from the underside of a bridge while the helicopters flew beneath them, Sam's eyes widened as Mikaela lost her grip and fell. Sliding downwards, Sam thrust his hand out and barely managed to stop the girl's fall, his muscles straining against the pull of her weight as he struggled to maintain his grip.

All thoughts of their argument were put behind them as their hands, slick with blood, separated and the sudden momentum pulled Sam's fingers from their desperate grip on Optimus' armor. The breath was knocked out of him as Optimus tried frantically to catch the falling teens, his large hands grasping at air as Sam's body bounced away. Closing his eyes tightly, Sam waited for the feeling of his body impacting the ground, when he landed onto the warm metal hand of a transformed Bumblebee. Deposited onto the ground, Sam could only watch in dismay as his guardian was pulled to the ground by the Sector Seven agents swarming around them. Struggling against the unrelenting hold of the man behind him, Sam bit down onto the hand, darting forward the instant the hold slackened. Tackling one of the men closest to his guardian, Sam grabbed the hose the man was using to spray his guardian and turned it on the agent instead. Wrestled to the ground in front of Bumblebee, Sam's head knocked against the ground, causing his vision to swim dizzily as he looked up through his bangs at the sad blue optics in front of him. "I'm so sorry, Bee," he whispered fervently.

DoX

"_So what is he to you all?"_

"_He is…He's our youngling."_

"_Youngling? You kinda lost me there, 'Hide."_

"_I think the Earth equivalent of claiming him as our youngling would to you be the same as adopting him."_

"_Adopting him?"_

"_Bumblebee has raised the boy in our ways. He will never truly be able to function in human society as one of you. Your people would look down on him and pity him for being raised in a manner not fitting to their standards."_

"_Hey! Not all of us are like that, 'Hide."_

"_No. No, you are not. But the vast majority of those that inhabit this world are, and would not hesitate in hurting him with their careless words and actions."_

"…"

"_Will, he is one of us. Until the day he dies. We will never abandon him."_

"_Youngling, huh? Well you might want to talk to your youngling about his hair."_

"_What is wrong with his hair?"_

"'_Hide, it's too long. It makes him look like a girl!"_

"_Bumblebee informed us that the length of the youngling's hair was due to the increased manageability of it in that length."_

"_Yeah well…manageability or whatever, he needs to cut it before people start thinkin' he's a girl or something."_

DoX

"Are you permanently defective or something, Simmons?" Sam raged, his hands swinging wildly in the general direction of the stasis locked Megatron. "You have the fragging Allspark in the same building as Megatron! You know the guy that wants to wipe us off the face of the Earth as he rebuilds his army?"

"He's frozen—"

"You think that matters?" Sam howled indignantly. "The rest of the Decepticons are probably already on their way here! You think they're going to leave Megatron frozen? You think that you can stop them from doing or getting what they want? You'll be lucky if you can bring even _one_ of them down before they hack into your systems and reverse the cryo-induced stasis lock he's in."

"What're you saying, kid? That there are _more_ of them coming over here?" Will Lennox asked, his eyes darting between the flabbergasted Simmons and the bloodied teen challenging him.

"What happened in Qatar will look like a day on the playground if they find Megatron and the Allspark in the same place."

"Are you sure?" Keller broke in, unable to remain silent as the teen continued to talk.

Sam turned haunted blue eyes in the direction of the Secretary of Defense before responding. "I've been running from them since I was eight, sir. You need to get the Allspark out of here and you need to give me my car back."

"Your car?"

"Sir, he's talking about NBE—"

"_His_ _name is_ Bumblebee, you malfunctioning piece of scrap metal."

"Bumblebee?"

"Look just let him go. Bee'll know what to do." Sam pleaded his hands twisting the hem of his ripped shirt nervously. "We don't stand a chance without Bee."

"Are you crazy?" Simmons exploded taking a threatening step towards the teen, missing the calculating look Will was giving Sam. "You want us to just _let him go_?"

DoX

"_You did a good job raising him, Bumblebee. His parents would be proud."_

"_No. I believe that I had little to do with him being the person he is. He would have been this way even had I not found him that day."_

"_No, he wouldn't have."_

"_What?"_

"_I saw it in his eyes when I made him leave you and take the Allspark. Until I told him that he was a soldier he didn't want to leave you behind. But what I said got to him and made him remember something. Something that gave him the strength to run and leave you behind. That's how I know that you did a good job and that his parent's would be proud. Guts like that are something you learn by example and not just because someone tells you."_

DoX

"Slag it all."

The dust covered everything, preventing him from finding his guardian on the rubble strewn street. A flash of yellow from the corner of his eye caught his attention and Sam whirled around, ready to cry in relief at the familiar sight, when he noticed that something was wrong. Letting go of Mikaela's hand, Sam ran over to the mech lying on the ground, ignoring the fight continuing on around him as he tried to reach his guardian.

"RATCHET!"

Sliding to his knees beside the sparking remnants of Bumblebee's legs, Sam fought down the nausea that seemed to well up in him at the sight. "Bee! Oh Primus, no!" His hands shook as he un-slung the bag that was miraculously still with him. Digging into the bag at his side, Sam swore viciously at the steady stream of blue energon leaking from the torn limbs. Hearing more than seeing Mikaela beside him, Sam spoke curtly to the horrified female. "There's a laptop in my bag. Get it out and start running the program on the desktop marked Sys. Check."

"Bee stop moving!" Sam cried as the yellow mech began to crawl forward using his arms to propel him. Looking up to see what his guardian was staring at, Sam stood and grabbed the metallic cube that had his guardian so concerned. "I got it. Now stay still! You're leaking energon and I don't know where the leak is, so if you have a microchip of common sense still left in your processor, you'll stop moving and let me find it!"

"SAM!" Mikaela yelled from where she was bent over the laptop's screen. "I got the program up!"

"Wait until it displays something about leaks and then tell me what lines it has listed, okay?" Sam called back as he started rummaging through his bag again.

"It says lines 3, 4 and 9!"

"What sectors?"

"Um…uh hold on…3 is in sector 2, 4 is in sector 2, and 9 is in sector 1!"

"Pit-slagging glitch," Sam muttered under his breath as he popped open a panel on Bumblebee's mangled legs and promptly clamped one of the energon lines. "He always has to hit one of the main lines. Can't cut me a break and disable one of the automatic shut-offs for the secondary lines."

"Should you…why aren't you giving him anything for the pain?" Mikaela asked as she paced uneasily behind Sam as he worked.

"I can't," Sam grunted as he glanced around for another clamp. "He's already lost too much energon. Giving him anything now could make his systems go into shock, and its too dangerous for him to go offline while I work."

Nimble hands made quick work of clamping the energon lines to stop anymore of the precious fluid from falling onto the street below. Securing the last clamp, Sam looked around him to find that Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz were still fighting while the men with Will Lennox were doing the best they could to help. Mikaela had run off a few seconds before saying something about getting a hold of something they could use to get Bee out. His eyes snapped back down when he felt the rough edges of the Allspark being pushed insistently into his hands.

"Sammmmm…..Goooooooo."

"No." Blue eyes widened in shock even as he began to shake his head. "I can't leave you here. Don't ask me to do it, Bee."

"SAM! WHERE'S THE CUBE?"

Sam tore his anguished gaze from Bumblebee's pleading optics long enough to respond to Will Lennox's frantic question. "I've got it over here!"

Tears were welling in his eyes when his arm was grabbed and he was dragged to his feet by Will. "I won't leave him," Sam whispered faintly, his stomach churning unpleasantly at the thought of leaving his guardian behind while he was basically defenseless.

"You're a soldier now!" Will snarled at the hesitant teen while shaking him roughly. "If you don't get that cube outta here, a lot of people are gonna die! Do you understand?"

A single tear slid down Sam's dusty, bloodied face as his eyes widened at Will's tirade. Unbidden images of Bumblebee through the years flashed his mind, memories of the many times the yellow 'bot had been forced to do something he hadn't wanted to do, simply to ensure their continued survival. Still shaking, Sam turned to look at Bumblebee's imploring blue orbs one last time before nodding. Gripping the Allspark in his hands tightly, Sam did the one thing he'd prayed to Primus that he would never have to do. He left. He ran straight towards the worst of the fighting, leaving his disabled guardian behind as he tried to protect the one thing that could mean either the salvation or destruction of both their races.

DoX

"_You still don't remember anything past Megatron and Sam, do you?"_

"_Nope. Even Ratchet couldn't find anythin' when he went through my system logs."_

"_I apologize. I just—"_

"_Ya don' need to be explainin' yourself to me, Bee. I understand that you just worried 'bout 'im, worried _for_ 'im. It's what happens when ya spend that long with someone, 'specially when you been carin' for them since they was jus' a sparklin'. Now you understand what we been through all these years with ya."  
_

DoX

Strange things happened when people touched the Allspark. He remembered Bee telling him that on Cybertron, the only time anyone ever touched the cube was when their Sparks were first created. Running through the building Will had pointed out to him, Sam realized that there was probably a reason that no one ever touched the Allspark after they were Created. His mind kept going through images of cities and planets that he had never seen, much less even heard of. He knew that the images had to be coming from the Allspark itself, but he couldn't understand why it would show him things while he was in the middle of a battlefield trying to get the fragging thing out of danger.

_**Lifegiver.**_

"Is it fear or courage that compels you, fleshling?"

He must be having one massive glitch, because here he was dangling from a statue still holding onto the Allspark with Megatron staring down at him, and he was actually _thinking_ about what the evil slagging Pit-spawn was asking. Fear or courage? Courage or fear? If he had to answer honestly, he would have to say fear. He was scared of what would happen if Megatron were to get his hands on the Allspark. He was scared about what would happen to the Autobots if he failed to keep the Allspark safe. He was scared about failing. Falling through the air as Megatron destroyed the edge of the building with his flail, Sam decided that fear wasn't really a bad motivator. You could lose your courage at any time, but fear is what made you keep going. It made you move beyond your limitations in a way that courage never could.

DoX

_  
"Ratchet tells me that you omitted several things in the report you submitted to me of your time spent here on Earth prior to our arrival."_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Why would you feel the need to omit something of importance from the report?"_

"_Sir, as I informed Ratchet earlier, it was, to put it quite simply, a matter that was not mine to disclose, sir."_

"_You are aware that something of this magnitude cannot be dismissed?"_

"_Sir, at the time I was well aware of the consequences for my actions. I will gladly take any punishment that you deem appropriate for my transgression, sir."_

DoX

He hurt. Dear Primus he hurt. Groaning as he forced himself to his feet once more, Sam stared dumbly at the falling chunks of concrete around him. Was the Allspark really worth all of this? Was something that was the embodiment of life itself really worth so much death and destruction? Numbly Sam gazed up into the red optics of Megatron and made his decision in the second that it took for him to start running. Optimus was already beginning to kneel down, waiting for Sam to push the Allspark into his chest and destroy both it and Optimus.

Did Optimus really think that he could do something like that? Did he really think that he would choose to end the life of someone fighting for life rather than death? Sam's eyes met the dark blue optics of the Autobots' leader and watched as horrified realization began to set in, even as he lifted the Allspark up above his head. The power of the Allspark felt like it was twisting things inside of him that had no business being twisted, but he refused to let go. He held on through sheer stubborn will as the light slowly faded from the optics of the large Decepticon above him.

DoX

"_We jus' finish gettin' our base all set up and ya already findin' a way to get locked up in the brig, Bee?"_

"_Don't you have someone else to bother, Jazz?"_

"_Nope. Jus' finished my shift and figured I'd come an' visit ya when 'Hide told me ya was down here."_

"_My Spark can barely contain its joy at your presence."_

"_Primus, the twins'd be so proud of ya for gettin' locked up. An' jus' barely a day after we finished the base, too."_

"_Jazz?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_Go away."_

"_Hey now. Is that any way to be talkin' to the newly revived?"_

DoX

Everything was so clear. So clear and yet at the same time it was all so fuzzy. He could hear Optimus and the other's talking around him and he vaguely realized that Megatron's Spark wasn't there anymore. How strange was it that he could actually _feel_ that it was gone? Blue eyes glowed faintly as he felt the ebbing pulse of a Spark familiar to him. Ignoring the Autobots, Sam walked unsteadily to where Ironhide was laying Jazz onto the broken asphalt almost tenderly.

No more. He couldn't take any more death today. His body was screaming at him to stop moving, while his heart pleaded with him to find the last bits of energy he had left. Tripping as he finally reached Jazz's broken frame, Sam threw his hands out to catch his balance. His breath caught in his throat as he felt something pulse inside of him. Closing his eyes briefly against the overwhelming sensation, Sam opened them again to see a rapidly fading brilliance housed inside of what he knew was Jazz's Spark casing. It was like the sad beauty of a dying star. Sam didn't have time to wonder what he was doing before he reached out with one hand and his world exploded into a multitude of colors.

The brown-haired teen could hear the distressed yells of those around him as he struggled to control the maelstrom of power inside of him. _**Lifegiver.**_ He'd heard that before when he was trying to run from Megatron. _**Lifegiver. Power of new life and Creation.**_ _**Protect my children well, youngling. Protect them and give them new hope in the times of darkness. I acknowledge you as one of mine and so shall you be. A new era will be Created through the hands of a new Lifegiver, your hands shall be the hands of life.**_

DoX

"_The Lifegiver's power will disappear without a new body to house it."_

"_Why are you telling me this?"_

"_You wish to prevent your friends from facing extinction and I wish for my children to live in happiness."_

"_But what can I do about it?"_

"_Allow yourself to become the new Lifegiver."_

DoX

A flood of pain was the first thing he noticed. The second was that everything seemed to be quiet. The area he was lying in wasn't filled with the screams of terrified people or the crumbling of damaged buildings. Instead, he could hear the familiar hum of well oiled joints moving by him, and he forced himself to ignore the pain and try to swim out of the inky darkness that enveloped him with all the security of a well loved blanket. Blue peeked out from beneath thick eyelashes before disappearing with a hiss as the light hurt the sensitive nerves centered there.

"Sam?"

DoX

A/N: There is a quote in here taken word for word from the book. All credit for that portion of Mikaela's little fit is credited to Alan Dean Foster. It's from page 210.


	2. Chapter 2

Experiences

I hope you all like this chapter even though I've managed to completely deviate from the other bonding ideas I've seen around as well as some others about the Allspark and some liberties were taken with Megatron's position back on Cybertron. Let me know what you guys think.

DoX

_**Bond Speech**_

_Dream_

DoX

Disclaimer: I recently (recently as in last night) found the prequel that explains Tyger Pax (after hounding every comic book dealer and bookseller in my city about it) at Hot Topic, but unfortunately Hasbro has yet to relinquish the rights to Transformers to me.

DoX

A/N: Alright now this is a fairly important A/N. I just wanted to let everyone reading this know some things ahead of time so that maybe I can avoid reviews that tell me something I had already planned on not making any sense. If you read the first chapter before this one then you'll understand what I'm talking about when I say that some things from that chapter don't flow into this one. Things like Megatron's Spark being gone in the last chapter, why Bumblebee used text instead of the bond, just things like that. They have a reason for being left unexplained in this chapter and will be left that way until I feel that their explanations fit into the current chapter. Sorry for that but I felt that trying to push those in here would completely change what I was going for.

DoX

"_What'll happen to you when it's all over with? Are you going to die?"_

"_Die? No youngling. I will not die. I am but a consciousness created from the need to grant life to those we would call our children. Once our merger has been completed I will simply fade back into the state I was in before that need brought me into being. In time I will be granted a true life through the new Sparks that you will create once your control has been established."_

"_So you're not—you're not even real?"_

"_That would depend solely upon your definition of reality. Here and now I am as real as I can possibly become without being granted a Spark that is solely my own."_

"_So you're real, but not really real."_

_Laughter. "If that is the way you wish to phrase it, then yes I suppose you are correct, youngling."_

"_You don't need to laugh. You could have just said what you meant without getting all philosophical on me."_

"_Forgive me, but our time together is nearing an end and I fear that there is much I must warn you of, youngling. Lest you be caught unawares and in danger through no fault of your own."_

"_Warn me? Warn me about what?"_

"_The Lord High Protector. Our Bonded Protector. The one meant to preserve and protect our neutrality and innocence. The one who now seeks to corrupt us and the life of the children we create. The Spark called Megatron."_

DoX

Sam sat on the only human-sized recharge berth in the silent med bay. He'd been awake for what felt like hours but in reality it had been only a few moments since Ratchet had gone to retrieve Bumblebee from the brig on Optimus' orders. He'd noticed the sharp, almost assessing gaze of the medic and knew immediately that Bumblebee had been forced to tell their secret. He wasn't really angry instead he was just curious about what had happened in the time he'd spent asleep that could have forced Bumblebee into telling something that he knew without a doubt wouldn't have been told unless there was no other option available. Way too overprotective, immature at times, and a complete pain in the aft when it came to prank paybacks Bumblebee was most assuredly all of those and more, yet he also knew that when Bumblebee gave his word he would die to keep it.

Hugging his knees, Sam's mind drifted back to the disconcerting dream he'd had after talking to that voice. It was hard to explain even to himself, and he'd been the one to dream it! But it was like there was something that was keeping him from being completely at ease with calling it just a dream concocted by his subconscious mind to help him explain things that he hadn't known the answers to. Primus he wished that he could call it a dream but he knew with a certainty that frightened him, that to do so would be to place the ones he cared for in danger.

Megatron was alive.

Sam knew things that had been forgotten in the long millennia that had passed and it was for that reason alone that he knew with absolute certainty that Megatron's Spark was not gone like they had thought. The Lord High Protector of Cybertron could not be killed by the very power he was sworn to protect. In the days following the birth of the Allspark's first creations, the decision had been reached to create two posts within a fledgling government. The one gifted with the title of Prime would rule the entirety of the planet Cybertron, while the one gifted with the title of Lord High Protector would be charged with both the preservation of peace on the planet and in secret would be the protector of the Allspark.

Bumblebee in the few times he'd ever spoken of the war that had ravaged Cybertron, had mentioned in passing that Megatron's ability to sense the location of the Allspark was uncanny. No one understood or knew how he could possibly know where it was, no matter how many times they moved it or regardless of how few knew its true location. Raising a hand lined with intricate metallic markings, Sam rubbed absently at his chest feeling a sense of both shame and intense sadness at the thought that the true meaning of Megatron's post had been lost in the unrelenting passage of time.

Megatron's Spark couldn't be extinguished by the Allspark's power simply because his Spark was connected to the Allspark through a Bond of Protection. It was what enabled him to sense the location of the Allspark, after all what use would a protector be if they could not sense the very thing they were entrusted to protect? The stasis Megatron had been forced into from the events of Mission City had ended long before Sam had awoken, and even now he could feel the almost tentative prods along the bond that he knew connected him to Megatron. The only thing protecting him from the leader of the Decepticons was the placement of another bond that had been embedded within him years before he'd placed in the position of accepting the Allspark's power.

During his 'visit' with Sector Seven as their guinea pig, the biological abnormalities in his genes while advancing slowly on their own, had been forced into dominance before either his body or mind were capable of accepting the rapidly occurring changes. When he'd finally managed to escape Sector Seven, both body and mind were barely managing to retain the balance needed to sustain life. Left alone, his mind would eventually have broken under the changes his body was undergoing at an accelerated pace. After finding him, Bumblebee had hurriedly connected them through the First Bond after he'd noticed the strain and had calculated the possible outcomes that ignoring the strain would produce.

Normally the First Bond was meant to be the first of several layers of bonds that connected the Sparks of two potential bond mates on Cybertron. While the First Bond connected Bumblebee to Sam, their bond was different in that it used Bumblebee's Spark as a way to center the changes that his body was undergoing and at the same time to alleviate the stress it was causing to his mind. When Bumblebee had done it, he hadn't had the time needed to explain to Sam exactly what was happening and what would be changed between the two of them as a result. Waking up to find out that you could literally _feel_ someone else in a way that you shouldn't have been able to, probably wasn't the best way he could have found out and was more than likely the reason he'd reacted as badly as he had.

Even after Bumblebee's patient explanation for doing what he'd done, Sam had been upset. Upset at the thought that Bumblebee was still sacrificing so much to keep him alive and well. The only thought that kept passing through his mind was the thought that as long as Bumblebee kept the First Bond between the two of them, Bumblebee would never be able to bond with someone other than him. It was the guilt that thought provoked in him that had caused Sam to demand that Bumblebee sever it while he still could. And it was that guilt that forced his guardian to react in a manner he'd never before witnessed in regards to himself.

Bumblebee had become angry at someone other than a Decepticon or Sector Seven. He'd realized it the second the words had finished leaving his mouth and his guardian had shot up from where he'd been sitting near the river's edge and a slew of words had literally poured into his mind with an undertone of rage that Sam fervently hoped to never again have directed at him. The yellow 'bot was _furious _and had wasted no time in telling Sam that he was a fragging fool if he thought that there was any chance of breaking the bond between them. First Bonds couldn't be forced and had to be wanted by both parties before it could be used. It was the reason Bumblebee had told him, that rape was unheard of on Cybertron. As if being bonded to his guardian wasn't shocking enough, the fact that First Bonds had to be wanted by _both_ of the parties being bonded was enough to send Sam falling to the ground in complete shock.

Sam had always acknowledged that Bumblebee was the most important person to him in his life, but to be fair it wasn't like there was any competition for that position either, well at least not any who were still among the living. But he hadn't thought…hadn't even _entertained_ the thought that his emotions were deeper than just those found between guardian and charge. After that had happened Sam hadn't brought the subject of dissolving their bond up again. He'd only asked Bumblebee to keep it between the two of them because while he might have been upset at first, there was no way in any level of hell that Sam was going to let someone else put their two cents in on something that was between him and Bee. Something that was private and _solely_ meant to be between the two of them.

Except now it looked like he didn't have a choice in the matter, because Bumblebee had been forced to tell and even if he hadn't, they wouldn't have been able to keep it quiet for long under the watchful optics of the remainder of the Autobots. And the continued growth of the First Bond between them was the only thing keeping him safe from Megatron. Sam had unwittingly chosen his own protector before the Allspark had merged with him causing the power he housed to form two Bonds of Protection, which only lengthened the amount of time it would take Megatron to find him. Bumblebee was now just as much the protector of the Allspark's power as Megatron was meant to have become, and he knew that the longer he spent bonded with Bumblebee the weaker the connection shared with Megatron would become. Unfortunately for Sam, the length of time required for that happy outcome could easily stretch into hundreds of years before Megatron would no longer be able to sense him.

Grinning happily as he felt the presence of Bumblebee coming closer, Sam hopped down from the berth he was sitting on to land lightly on the tiled floor before sprinting to the opening doors of the med bay. Skidding to a halt just before the mechs paused in the doorway, Sam met the relieved optics of Bumblebee and his smile softened as the yellow 'bot knelt down in front of him. "You are well?" Bumblebee asked, one finger pressed gently against Sam's cheek as Ratchet turned and left the pair of them alone.

"Yeah."

"Good." Bumblebee said the concern in his optics becoming clouded with anger. "Perhaps you can now explain to me what the frag you were thinking when you decided to revive Jazz's Spark so soon after the Allspark began its integration process?"

Sam gaped at him for a long moment before gathering himself enough to respond. "Not much except for the fact that I didn't want to see someone I was beginning to care for die in front of me, not when I could do something to stop it."

"It nearly killed you." Bumblebee retorted angrily, his hand having long since dropped back to his side. "The tension on our bond from your actions nearly snapped it and you came precariously close to dying. Slag it all Sam, it was all I could do to simply keep our bond intact long enough for the human medics to begin aiding Ratchet in saving you from your own misguided actions."

"Misguided?" Sam repeated softly in disbelief his own eyes beginning to reflect the anger that was slowly building within him as well. "You think that saving someone is a _misguided action_?"

"When the cost of saving the life of another is very nearly the life of my bond mate, then I feel I am well within my rights to deem it a misguided action." 

"You—you honestly think that Jazz wasn't important enough for me to save?" Sam faltered as he took a step away from the now standing mech.

Bumblebee sighed heavily, stepping into the room to allow the med bay doors to close behind them as a measure of ensuring their conversation would remain private. "Jazz is important to me in the fact that I have known him since I was myself was nothing more than a sparkling. But there is nothing and no one anywhere in the universe that could possibly mean more to me than you."

"Bee."

"Primus, Sam. Do you even realize the agony and fear that took a hold of my Spark the very astrosecond I began to feel your life wavering through the bond?" Bumblebee asked. "I could still feel the presence of the Allspark settling itself into our bond which by itself terrified me, but to _feel_ you beginning to slip away from me was even more terrifying a feeling than when I watched you flee with the Allspark in your hands as you strove to protect it from Megatron's grasp."

"Bee I—I'm…I'm sorry." Sam whispered brokenly as he stared intently at the tiled floor. "I just—I couldn't…I couldn't leave him like that. I wasn't strong enough to help my parents, but I could do something to help Jazz. I could see him fading and I couldn't—I couldn't ignore it. Not with so much death already surrounding me."

"I realize that. I even…understand." Kneeling down again, Bumblebee reached out and tenderly lifted Sam's chin so that he was looking at him. "But what you must come to understand is that my anger stems not from what your actions were, but from the fact that you were in danger and I could not do anything to assist you. The power that is the Allspark is a tremendous one and was very nearly too much for you to hold, even with the assistance that the bond gave you in harnessing it. Reviving Jazz caused the other changes within your body to hasten their process and your center was very nearly pushed away. Other than bolstering the bond there was nothing else that I was able to do. It was…an enemy that I could not fight to protect you from, as I have so many others in the past. I was powerless to protect you in much the same way as I was incapable of protecting you in Mission City after my legs were severed."

"Bumblebee I—"

Bumblebee shook his head cutting Sam off. "Let me speak. Ratchet confronted me about our bond nearly six orns ago after it became apparent that your wounds were not healing in the manner that they should have. I was placed in the brig for my failure to inform Optimus of the changes in our status, and it was during that time I spent there waiting for you to wake from your sleep of nine orns that I realized you were speaking to someone in your unconscious state. I don't care to know what your reasoning for your decision was; all I care to know is if you truly believe that you will not come to regret this."

"You—you felt it talking to me?" Sam asked his violet eyes wide with shock.

"I did. Until then I had not realized that the changes you were undergoing were done with both your knowledge and consent. I truly had no idea of how to inform you that the last traces of your humanity were leaving in a manner that we had never accounted for. Or one that we even dreamed to be possible."

"It—it started talking to me while I was running from Megatron." Sam admitted tiredly his strength waning rapidly. "At first I was just seeing places and then—then when I thought I was going to die after I fell off the building it actually started talking to me. It kept—it called you it's children and said that it wanted to bind its power to me so that you wouldn't be forced into extinction. I couldn't—I destroyed the cube it was using, Bee. If I hadn't said yes, then I wouldn't have been any better than the Decepticons because I would have been responsible for the death of an entire race."

"It would have been our own folly that doomed us to that fate and not the fault of any of your actions." Bumblebee murmured reprovingly his frame settling onto the floor as he sat and waited patiently for Sam to collapse next to him wearily.

"It might have been your race that began the circumstances that led to me facing that decision." Sam countered. "But it was _my_ choice of actions that almost condemned your race to nothing more than mere memory."

"And nothing that shall come to pass will cause you to regret that which you have taken onto yourself? You will live to be as old as the oldest amongst my race, Sam. Those humans that you hold close to you like Will and Mikaela will die along with countless numbers of their descendents before your life is extinguished and you are allowed to reunite with them."

Yawning widely as he was lifted carefully and cradled in the arms of his guardian Sam mumbled sleepily as the familiar position began to lull him back into sleep. "I know that. But like I told you after we made the First Bond, my place is with you Bee. Where you go, I go. What's there to regret when it means that I can stay by your side that much longer?"

"I will remind you of that." Bumblebee replied, his hand brushing a stray lock of hair away from Sam's face. "But for now you need sleep. Your body still requires time to recover from the amount of change that it has forced through and the amount of energy that was expended to fuel that change. We can continue this conversation when you are awake once more."

Before drifting off into the welcoming warmth of sleep, Sam remembered the dream he'd had earlier and forced himself awake long enough to warn Bumblebee through their bond since his mouth refused to cooperate. _**Megatron… Megatron isn't… He's still alive. Can feel him. Didn't die… Just… stasis…**_ And with that he lost the battle to sleep and missed seeing the look of shock and dismay that flashed through Bumblebee's blue optics before he opened a line of communication to Optimus.

"Sir, I have urgent news that requires your immediate attention." Silence. "I'm currently in the med bay with Sam, sir." Silence. "Yes sir, understood. I will wait for Ratchet's arrival then make my way to your current location."

"Primus help us all but trouble continues to follow you like a dog would its master."

DoX

And that is it for my second chapter. Like I said at the top, I know that there are a lot of unanswered questions being left with the way I chose to write this. But this chapter was really important in the long run because I needed it to begin setting things between Bumblebee and Sam. A lot of the 'argument' was drawn from a similar argument I remember my parents having after we got into a really bad car accident. The circumstances aren't exactly the same but the emotions were what I was really using as a guide here. I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	3. Chapter 3

Experiences

I feel like such an ingrate. I meant to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews last chapter and I completely forgot. I'M SO SORRY! Belated though it is thanks everyone for the support and reviews to let me know what you thought. I can't tell you how much I appreciated it. Here's chapter three (all 5,000+ words of it) and I hope you all enjoy.

DoX

_Dreams_

DoX

Disclaimer: I still don't own Transformers. But since Christmas is coming up, maybe if I'm a good child and put it on my wish list, Santa will give it to me. Instead of the lump of coal I got last year for accidentally blowing up my school's chemistry lab. Honestly if the woman didn't want us to combine the two beakers, she should have said something before.

DoX

_He was going to go insane if he had to stay here for much longer. This wasn't supposed to happen, well at least not like this. He'd always been prepared for something like this to happen, but he'd never even thought that he would have to worry about the possibility of attack and kidnapping coming from the members of his own species. In retrospect maybe he should have but like the saying went; Hindsight is always 20/20. Bumblebee had been waiting in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart they'd stopped at while Sam had run in to get some more groceries since he was nearly out of food. He was on his way out of the store holding a few bags that would last him a couple of weeks if he rationed it right, and because of the Decepticons he was __**definitely**__ going to have to ration, when he felt a prick at the back of his neck. _

_Wincing at the stinging pain that fled as quickly as it had begun, Sam's vision began to grow black at the edges with spots dancing in the remainder. His body had swayed to the side alarmingly when he felt a steadying hand grasp his forearm as the plastic bags full of food dropped to the ground as fingers turned limp and became unable to retain a grip on the handles. Blinking against the alarmingly rapid progression of the dizziness that was beginning to overwhelm him, Sam wondered what was happening to him. Leaning heavily into the hold of the man keeping him upright, Sam found himself unable to protest as he was lifted and taken to an awaiting car, the man's voice reassuring the concerned people around them that he was only taking his son back home before going to the doctor._

_As those words began to seep into his drug clouded mind, the first trickles of panic began to take hold and Sam forced his hand to move towards his pocket where his cell phone and salvation was kept. His hand was roughly shoved aside and his phone removed from his pocket by the man sitting beside him in the now moving car as they left the parking lot and exited onto the highway the Wal-Mart was situated by as a matter of convenience for its shoppers. His mouth went dry as the man smiled at him with an air of maliciousness clinging to it as he spoke. "Now, now Samuel there's no need for that. We wouldn't want your __**guardian**__ to come after us so soon. Not when we have so much we want to see before we let you bring him to us."_

_Alarm faded into horror as Sam's eyes began to close and his last view was that of the man using a different cell phone and his heart felt as though someone was squeezing it tightly when he heard the man asking someone to begin making preparations for immediate testing. That had been three weeks ago and in that time since he'd been drugged and kidnapped from Wal-Mart; Sam had been poked, prodded and generally treated in a manner that no living creature should ever be subjected to. The man, who he'd learned was called Simmons came every day around the same time to see if he'd changed his mind about giving them the information they wanted in regards to Bumblebee and the Decepticons who were on Earth. _

_Each subsequent refusal left him feeling worse than he had before Simmons' 'friendly little visit' and he was left with the distinct impression that his usefulness as a test subject was the only thing lying between him and more forceful methods being used to gain the information they wanted . Lying on his side on the hard cot in the windowless room he was kept in when they weren't running tests or doing others things, Sam curled into a tight ball when the door opened and a pair of men came in to pull him from the cot. "No more, please. I can't do it. Please just leave me alone. I haven't done anything. Please." Even as he pleaded with the men dragging him towards the labs, Sam came to the realization that he had to escape and soon. If he didn't…well it wouldn't matter if the Decepticons found him because he probably wouldn't even remember his own name by that time much less know which glasses they were searching for so diligently._

DoX

Bolting upright on the recharge berth Bumblebee had carefully placed him on before leaving to meet with Optimus; wide violet eyes scanned the room frantically as his mind continued to relive the memories of his captivity with Sector Seven. The feeling of warm metal pressed comfortingly to his back brought him jolted him out of his memories as his head whipped around to find Ratchet staring down at him with worry filled optical lenses.

"I've come to learn in my time spent here that humans are not so very different from Cybertronians. We all live and die, even dream in the same manner, but sometimes dreams turn into nightmares. I've learned that talking of them is often the best remedy for lessening the psychological impact that such nightmares force upon our psyche." Ratchet said once Sam's eyes slowly began the process of losing the glazed look that being trapped in his memories had given him.

"I haven't even told Bee what my nightmares are about." Sam mumbled nearly incoherently his mind still fogged with the remnants of sleep.

"Bumblebee is your guardian. Your reluctance to speak with him in regards to your nightmares is only to be expected."

"What?"

"You worry about causing unintentional emotional distress to the one closest to you, which Bumblebee undoubtedly holds that position. It is normally the reason why our confidantes are not the ones held closest to our Sparks. With them there is no unnecessary worry to curb our words and emotions when an outlet is needed for them." Ratchet explained.

"Why are you so worried about this?" Sam queried his head tilted to the side in open curiosity as his mind cleared. "My nightmares haven't caused any trouble so why worry?"

"And it is answers like that one that continue to show that in many ways you still remain a youngling." Ratchet answered evenly, shaking his head in mild amusement. "Ignoring the nightmares will only cause trouble in the future. What will you do if one causes you to freeze in the middle of repairs or something equally as important? Will you endanger the Sparks of those around you simply to avoid speaking of the causes for those scars I've seen littering your frame?"

Sam's head snapped up from where he'd been studying the floor intently to meet Ratchet's solemn gaze with his own violet one. "I—my—you've seen my scars?"

"It was unavoidable as I needed to remove your clothing in order to begin treatment."

"They—they don't bother me." Sam insisted stubbornly his mouth set in a thin line of anger. "My nightmares don't have anything to do with them."

"Perhaps not all of them." Ratchet conceded gracefully. "But there are many scars and in all my many vorns treating the mechs in the Autobot ranks I've come to learn that every scar marring our frames invariably carries with it, its own special nightmare that haunts us while we seek peace in recharge."

"I'm not—It's not…" Sam began to argue before his shoulders dropped with a quiet sigh and he wrapped his arms around his midsection securely. "I dream about Sector Seven. I keep remembering all of the tests that they made me do. Some—Sometimes I remember when they grabbed Bee under the bridge."

"I assume that the testing they forced you to undergo in their laboratories is responsible for the scars that appear to have been made by a surgical instrument of some kind?" Ratchet asked calmly, feeling as though even his coolants would begin to boil from the sheer fury invoked by the memory of seeing the liberal amount of scarring on the teen's body.

"Yeah. They were_ real_ interested in getting accurate documentation of my abnormal healing processes." Sam answered bitterly, his hands falling away from his stomach to clench into tight fists at his sides. "Sometimes they'd make me do some written tests and things like that to test my intelligence, but for the most part my testing was all physical. I used to wonder what they'd do to Bee if they ever got a hold of him if they were treating me like that and I was _human_. Well at least my parents were."

"You are human as well." Ratchet added.

"No." Sam argued, shaking his head in disagreement. "I'm not. The Allspark knew what was going to happen in Mission City and it took steps to make sure that it wouldn't disappear. It used the bond it had with Megatron to show my great-great-grandpa what was going to happen and changed his DNA structure while it was at it. The changes weren't dominant in nature and didn't _do_ anything until I came in contact with Bee like the Allspark planned."

"Youngling." Ratchet called, halting Sam in his rambling as he clamped down firmly on the urge to question him about the bond Megatron had with the Allspark. "That is what you are to us. It does not matter to us what species you claim as your own or even if you are incapable of claiming a single one."

"What—uh—huh?" Sam struggled to reply, any words he might have used robbed from him by shock as his body toppled off of the recharge berth to land on the floor. "Youngling? But how—I mean why?"

"You are without Creators in your life, and we Autobots are not known for leaving behind orphans in our wake, even in the midst of battle. To do so would make us no better than the Decepticons." Ratchet hastened to explain to the youth lying on the floor. "So long as you will accept us, we would be honored to claim you as our youngling. Now, perhaps you can explain me to how you managed to repair Bumblebee without the usage of the repair kit?"

"Yeah…um sure."

DoX

"You are certain of this, Bumblebee?"

Looking wearier than he'd ever looked during their time spent on Earth, Optimus Prime looked solemnly at the yellow Autobot standing in front of him. When Bumblebee had sent him the communication about an important piece of information, his thoughts had been of Sam and the fact that the Allspark was now a part of the youngling who'd acquitted himself as well as any of the soldiers under his command would have. He'd never in any of the wildest conclusions he could have drawn (even if he'd tried imagining Red Alert's reactions, and wasn't that a horrifying thought?), would he have thought of something like this being brought to his attention.

"He told me using the bond." Bumblebee responded a look of concern flitting through his optics. "The amount of energy that is required to communicate with a bond mate via the bond is what leads me to believe that he would not have told me if he himself were not convinced of Megatron's survival."

"I do not doubt that the youngling is telling the truth, Bumblebee." Optimus said leaning his elbows on the desk before lacing his hands together and resting his chin on top. "As soon as Ratchet has cleared Sam to leave the med bay, I ask that you escort him here. I believe that we have much that has yet to be discussed."

"Understood, sir."

Watching as Bumblebee left his office, Optimus allowed himself to sag in the chair he was seated in, his optics staring at the now empty doorway unblinkingly. Megatron was alive. How he survived wasn't something that he was particularly concerned with at the moment, not when he needed to begin making plans for the war to continue once more. "Slag it all." A rarely uttered oath slipped past his vocal capacitor as his processor raced with massive amounts of calculations and probabilities for the upcoming events that lay in their futures. And centered in all of those was the human youngling who seemed to take on the brunt of their war being brought to his world. A mere child who deserved to remain unsullied by the harsh taint of darkness that came with war.

DoX

"So you reverse engineered the tools in the repair kit that I forced Bumblebee to take with him?"

Sam nodded his head, absently spreading his tools out on the operating berth he'd been lifted onto. "Yeah, using the tools the way they were took too much time. I needed something in my size that would let me work faster, especially when the Decepticons started getting more _creative_ with some of their ambushes." Lifting up an arc welder from the myriad of tools now lain out on the gleaming metal surface, Sam studied it almost absently as he commented. "I had a lot of problems getting them to work right at the beginning. I didn't know that the materials here were inferior to the ones you guys use on Cybertron so I kept having them break on me in the middle of a repair. Eventually I just started checking over them every day to make sure that nothing needed replacing."

"I must admit I am quite surprised by the level of your competence in seeing to Bumblebee's repairs." Ratchet said, picking up one of the tiny tools (to him) and lifting it closer to his optics for a more detailed inspection. "Some of the mechs that serve under Prime are still at a level of skill far below your own, and this after I've been teaching the ungrateful little slaggers to repair themselves for vorns now." Ratchet sniffed indignantly reminding Sam again of the similarities between the two races. "I can't seem to get it to stick in their processors that I'm not always going to be there to fix them. So it wouldn't be remiss of them to pay some sort of attention when I'm actually taking the time out of my busy schedule to educate the miscreants in something that could end up saving their afts."

"I think it's because they don't understand what goes into fixing them up after each battle." Sam replied thoughtfully, his violet eyes looking off to the side. "They don't understand how much it tears someone up to see them coming in slagged to the Pit and back. If you've never felt it, then you can't understand it."

"Bumblebee has yet to curb his _enthusiasm_ in battle?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed as he dug his beloved laptop from the bag that had been salvaged from the rubble of Mission City after he'd fainted. "Most of the time he was pretty good about just getting us out of there without having to fight but—but sometimes I'd get hurt and it was like he would just lose it."

"It seems that it is easy to forget that you still remain a youngling in many ways, Sam." Ratchet commented his hands lowering the tools back onto the operating berth. "If you could fight to avenge the many times that you've been forced to repair Bumblebee, would you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You've engaged the Decepticons before, according to the report that Bumblebee submitted to Prime of his time spent here. What emotions led you to enter into a battle that you knew full well you did not belong in? What events caused you to lose your reluctance in causing harm to another? To use your skills in a manner other than repairing the wounded?"

"I—I don't…" Sam spoke haltingly his hand tugging on the end of his loose braid as he chewed on his bottom lip. "There was this one time with Blackout. I knew—I _knew_ that Bee couldn't take him, so I used some wire cutters I'd been carrying around with me to sever one of the main fluid lines in his leg."

"Although Bumblebee's actions were vastly different to your own, the emotions that guided them were relatively the same. You both acted out of a desire to protect the other or in Bumblebee's case a desire to extract revenge for a failed attempt at protection." Ratchet added quietly, his optics gleaming with an unfamiliar emotion. "First Bonds between younglings are not encouraged on our world. Though that doesn't mean that they don't occur, most First Bonds between younglings are generally treated as nothing more than 'training bonds' I suppose would be the way to phrase it. Younglings are still immature in ways that can affect the strength of the bond and most involved dissolve the bond just as quickly as they forge it."

"Ratchet?"

"You and Bumblebee hold a great deal of respect and affection for each other." Sighing as he lowered his hand in a gesture for Sam to step on, he raised Sam on a level equal with his optics. "I truly believe that there is no other being within this universe that could have prompted Bumblebee to defy Optimus in the manner that he did. Bumblebee has always been the youngest among the Autobot faction, and it is a relief to my Spark that although you yourself are still a youngling you care for him in a manner that shows maturity beyond your physical age. A maturity that has been forced upon you by the circumstances that have governed your life until now. But you have accepted both the bond and Bumblebee even when it was forged in desperation without full understanding of the meaning of it."

"I will acknowledge your bond and you can count on my aid if defense of it is ever needed." Ratchet finished solemnly watching as Sam's expression changed with the realization of what the medic had just offered him. "I may not have the weaponry that the others have, but I can and will weld their sorry afts to the ceiling if I've need to do so."

"Thanks."

DoX

Standing outside of the med bay doors, Bumblebee stood motionless in shock at the conversation he'd overheard between his bond mate and the medic he'd known since he was nothing more than a sparkling. His processor and internal systems were whirring and clicking as he rapidly analyzed the conversation, his Spark pulsing warmly with the protection Ratchet had offered them both.

To some of his comrades, the circumstances behind the creation of the First Bond wouldn't matter, all they would see was that he'd bonded to an immature sentient _organic_ being and once Sam's actions were brought to light the objections would grow as they would find it unthinkable that the Allspark be allowed to hold a bond. Ratchet's offer amounted to protection for Sam and a willingness to defend the youth as his Creators would have had they survived. It was unexpected, especially coming from the medic, he'd never dared to hope that the ornery, tool throwing mech would be the first to accept the bond present between both Sam and himself. It was just as well, since with Ratchet standing behind him there were few who would honestly oppose the medic's opinion or his throwing arm.

Gathering himself, Bumblebee opened the doors and entered the med bay to see Sam and Ratchet pouring over the tools that he'd had yet to return to subspace, although to be honest the thought hadn't occurred to him until _after_ he'd been locked in the brig for insubordination. Meeting the teen's now violet gaze, Bumblebee felt his core temperature rise at the knowing look present in those orbs. In his shock at hearing Ratchet's statement, he'd forgotten that Sam would have known he was standing outside the med bay eavesdropping on the conversation. "Your eyes have changed color again." He blurted out, hastily breaking eye contact with the teen to glance questioningly over at the medic.

"Nothing in any of my scans leads me to believe that any problems will arise from the change in eye color, Bumblebee." Ratchet announced abruptly as though annoyed at Bumblebee's concern. "I wouldn't have let him leave the recharge berth if I wasn't completely satisfied that there would be no lingering ill effects of his merger with the Allspark."

"Then is he well enough to be released from the med bay?" Bumblebee asked his Spark hoping that the answer would be a resounding no instead of the verification of Sam's complete recovery that he was almost certain would be the response.

"Why?" Ratchet asked immediately, his narrowed optics trained on the yellow 'bot who was now studiously avoiding his gaze.

"I have orders to bring him to Optimus if he has been given clearance to leave the med bay."

Optics shuttering closed, Ratchet let out a deep sigh as though to steady himself. "He is well enough to leave and meet with Prime. But Primus help you if you don't bring him back here immediately afterwards. I want him here for a few more nights, just for observation."

"I'll bring him back as soon as the meeting has concluded." Bumblebee promised, turning to talk to Sam who was quietly packing his tools back into their positions in the metal lockbox. "Are you ready?"

Sam muffled a snort. "Am I ever?"

"No." Bumblebee responded lightly his optics shining mischievously. "I believe that if you ever _were_ ready then I would have to, in good conscience of course, bring you to see Ratchet to ensure that your own processing centers have not malfunctioned."

"You're such a glitch, you know that?"

"I try."

DoX

"There is no need for you to worry."

Glancing up at Bumblebee from where he was perched on the yellow 'bot's shoulder, Sam smiled faintly, his eyes returning to look at the door in front of them with a feeling of unease rising in his gut. He couldn't understand why he was feeling this way. It wasn't like Optimus would hurt him or anything like that, but still the feeling persisted. He knew that Optimus would want answers, answers that only he could give. And maybe it was that which caused him to feel so…hesitant about entering the office. Contrary to what Bumblebee and the rest seemed to think, he was not taking the Allspark's integration into his body lightly.

He couldn't take it lightly. Not when he'd learned of the time and energy the Allspark had devoted to even making it possible before his birth, or even the birth of his great-grandfather. And now he was going to be expected to explain all of that, to tell the beings created by the power held within him that the Allspark's destruction had been known and even planned for. Primus, it still bothered _him_ and he was the one who agreed to it. He still wasn't sure what bothered him more; the fact that the Allspark knew what was happening with Megatron or the fact that the Allspark had changed his DNA so that he would be able to cope with the physical changes that would accompany the power transfer.

He wasn't sure how long they stood there in front of the simple, unassuming door but he was acutely aware of the concern positively oozing from Bumblebee. Primus, Bee was going to fritz about all of this. Even while he'd been asleep, he'd been careful to filter the bond on his end so that only minimal amounts of emotions floated down to Bumblebee. He didn't want the yellow mech to know just how un-okay he was with all of this, or to realize that all he really wanted to do was find some place quiet where he could scream his heart out. Sighing deeply, Sam tucked the thoughts away in the corner of his mind kept safe from the bond and spoke. "Might as well get this over and done with."

"Only if you are ready for this, Sam." Bumblebee turned his head to meet Sam's anxious eyes. "I will not force you to do something that you feel you are not yet ready to do."

Sam's smile was still faint but held more strength than the one before as a feeling of calm settled over him at Bumblebee's words. "You know my dad used to say if you can't avoid it, it's best to get it over with fast. The longer you take to do it the harder it'll be for you to do it. So hurry up and open the door before I change my mind."

Bumblebee didn't answer, just opened the door to the office and walked through the door frame wondering why he felt as though he should be running in the opposite direction; after all it was just a meeting with Optimus, right?

DoX

Optimus Prime wasted no time in beginning to make arrangements, not when hesitating could mean unnecessary deaths in the ranks of the men under his command. Once he'd managed to get his emotions back until the tight control they were normally held under, he'd opened a line of communication and had asked for Prowl to meet him in his office to discuss preparations. Out of the mechs that had responded to his call, he was most reassured by Prowl's answering presence. Especially now that it seemed the peace they'd grown accustomed to, was only what humans had aptly termed, 'The calm before the storm.'

Thus far, they'd begun to create the shifts for patrol and even created the units that would compose their frontlines when the fighting began in earnest. Absorbed in looking over the newly created shift listings, Optimus looked up with no small measure of surprise when his door opened to admit Bumblebee with a pale Sam seated comfortably on a yellow shoulder.

"Reporting as ordered, sir."

Was it just him or did Bumblebee's tone seem to carry with it a small amount of disgruntlement? Seeing Prowl's head snap up in surprise at the normally jovial mech's tone he realized that no, it had not been just him who had heard the subtle undertone. Shaking his head when Prowl seemed ready to reprimand the lower ranked mech for his tone, Optimus gathered the data pad's littering his desk into neat, organized stacks.

"I trust that you already know the reasons for my request, Sam." The red and blue leader of the Autobots broke the silence that had fallen over the office after Bumblebee's _greeting_. "I apologize that you cannot be given more time to recover from your…injuries, but I believe that in light of your recent revelations time is of the essence."

"Don't worry about it." Sam answered already motioning for Bumblebee to let him down even as he looked at Prowl curiously. "If it were me, I'd probably be doing the same thing. So where do you want me to start?"

"I find that the beginning is oftentimes the best place to start, but first allow me to introduce you to my tactician and another of the first lieutenants serving under my command, Prowl." Optimus gestured towards the quiet black and white mech standing beside his desk. "He was one of the Autobots that responded to my transmission while you were unconscious and has already been briefed on the events prior to his arrival."

"Nice to meet you." Sam murmured politely, a little thrown off by the silent nature and emotionless exterior of the unfamiliar bot. Taking a deep breath, Sam looked up at Bumblebee pleading for reassurance, which came flooding down their bond as he reacted to the unvoiced request. Swallowing nervously, Sam forced himself to look up and meet the understanding blue optics of the mech sitting behind the desk, and slowly began speaking.

"The Allspark's neutral. Or at least it's _supposed_ to be." Sam stressed the word as he himself was still a little disturbed by the chain of events. "Any children it creates are supposed to be given the chance to choose their own life and Megatron…Megatron was obligated to protect that neutrality from anyone who wanted to change it. It's why the Allspark allowed him to create the Bond of Protection."

Ignoring the heavy silence permeating the entirety of the room, Sam took another deep breath allowing it to steady him. "That's why he could sense where the Allspark was. And it's why he didn't die when I destroyed the Allspark. It's one of the safety nets that were created to protect him from the Allspark's power in case it was ever taken control of by any one person and was used against him. I couldn't feel him after Mission City because of another safety net that was designed to keep the other half of the Bond of Protection safe from detection long enough for them to recover."

"Why did we never know of this?" Optimus asked calmly even as his processor whirred with the implications of Sam's statements.

"Because you weren't the Lord High Protector of Cybertron." Sam answered just as calmly, his trepidation melting away as the words began to flow from his mouth with ease. "Only the Allspark and the Lord High Protector were supposed to know anything about it. But Megatron _changed_ and forgot about the meaning and reasons for the bond. You were able to keep the Allspark away from him for as long as you did because the Allspark _knew_ what was going on and began to actively block the bond."

"When it landed on Earth after you launched it from Cybertron, it went into a kind of—a kind of stasis during its time here. It didn't come out of that until my great-great-grandpa found Megatron frozen in the ice." Gritting his teeth against what he had to say next, Sam relaxed when Bumblebee trailed one finger against his back soothingly. "Something happened when it used the bond to see my great-great-grandfather and both of them saw Mission City, or at least a couple different versions of it. But no matter what else changed, the destruction of the Allspark was the same in all of them."

"The placement of the coordinates weren't just coincidence were they?" Optimus broke in feeling slightly appalled at the thought that this was all planned.

"The Allspark wanted me to be found, that's why it activated Megatron's navigation systems. It chose me as its next container when it changed great-great-grandpa Witwicky's DNA code. A human body isn't meant to be able to handle that kind of power but with enough gradual genetic modifications it can." Sam continued soberly. "And it had to have a human as its next container because it couldn't coexist with another spark present. Not when its basically just a giant collection of unused Sparks."

"I see."

"No, no I don't think you do." Sam remarked, his violet eyes meeting blue optics. "I'm fragged off that the Pit-spawned aft head did what it did. But I can understand why. It cares for all of you like you're its children, and it'll do whatever it deems necessary to remain a permanent fixture of your lives. Even if it means that it has to place its faith in nothing more than a hybrid youngling. I think that any parent would do the same for their children if they could, I know _mine_ would have."

"Sam."

"It'll be okay." Sam spoke reassuringly to the worried yellow 'bot beside him. "Maybe not now, but eventually it'll be okay."

"And what of the Bond of Protection you currently hold with Megatron as the Allspark's new host?" Prowl asked startling the others into remembering his presence. "Surely if he could locate the Allspark despite our best efforts to prevent it while still on Cybertron, he will be capable of the same feat here on Earth?"

"He would, and should be able to." Sam agreed his eyes darting to look at the silent mech in an assessing manner. "But there's another bond that's keeping him from finding me."

"Your bond with Bumblebee." Optimus stated.

"Yeah. He knows that the Allspark wasn't destroyed because he can still feel that much, but he can't find me because Bee's blocking him."

"The strain."

"Didn't take you long to figure that out." Sam commented leaning into one of the large metal legs. "The Allspark recognized you as a protector like Megatron but it wasn't capable of dealing with two of them at the same time. That's why our bond almost broke until it could find a way to accommodate the two Bonds of Protection without snapping the First Bond."

"How long do we have to prepare before Megatron is ready to engage us once more?"

Tilting his head to the side as he glanced at Prowl again, Sam bit his lower lip nervously before responding. "He's already completely repaired. He sent a transmission out to any remaining Decepticon forces with orders to regroup here on Earth prepared for battle. So he's just waiting for his reinforcements to get here before he starts again." Closing his eyes, Sam reopened them shocking the Autobots with the depth of the absolute certainty contained there. "And the first thing he's gonna do is come looking for me. And if he gets close enough then it won't matter if Bee blocks him or not, cause the bond will be reinforced by his presence and then there won't be anywhere I'll be able to hide. Not from him."

DoX

Another chapter done. Now if only I could get my chapter for Moon's Blood to cooperate like Experiences is. Either way, I rather like this chapter with the exception of certain parts that no matter how I tweaked them, refused to behave and come out the way I wanted them to. See you all next chapter.

A/N: Quick note here, I know that when Prowl finds out something surprising like Bee/Sam's bond his battle comp freezes and he goes offline. When Optimus said that he'd already been told about everything, he meant everything. So don't be surprised that Prowl's not really reacting here, cause its information he already knows and has had time to freak out and offline. As for Ratchet, well let's say he's been reading up on human psychology in case Sam didn't take the news well.

13 November 2007


	4. Chapter 4

Experiences

Slag it all, it was supposed to be a nice relaxing day where he didn't have anything to do but sit around and work on some of the data pads with school work that he'd fallen behind on. Nowhere did he recall hearing about going over to Will's place for dinner, whether he was willing to go or not. Glowering darkly at the grinning man sitting next to his tied up form, Sam rolled his eyes in exasperation as the sounds of Ironhide chuckling filtered through the speakers of the GMC Topkick.

"I told you. If my wife says that you're comin' to dinner then you're comin' to dinner." Will told the teen his tone full of amusement. "If you'd have just said yes when I asked you the first time then 'Hide and I wouldn't have had to do this."

"You forgot that he's a younglin'." Ironhide couldn't resist adding his own commentary as they drove to the home of Will Lennox. "And all younglin's, most especially younglin's claimed by Ratchet, will be too slaggin' stubborn for their own good."

Will couldn't help but to begin laughing when the teen threw the dashboard a dark look which just screamed, 'wait 'til I tell Ratchet what you just said.'. His laughter only grew when the truck beneath them seemed to shudder at the promising look from the youth, and Will idly wondered what he would have been doing if he hadn't been sent out to Qatar all those months ago. He seriously doubted that he would be having as much fun with kidnapping as he was now…Although at least they thought to leave Ratchet and Bumblebee a note saying that Sam was being kidnapped for the evening and would be returned come morning.

DoX

"Fraggit Ironhide! My youngling isn't there for you to take off with whenever you slagging well please. Malfunctioning piece of scrap metal, just wait until I have you in my med bay again. See if I can't fix that fragging glitch in your processors."

DoX

On second thought maybe leaving just a note wasn't such a great idea, Will mused to himself as Ironhide turned down the dirt road leading to his house. Grin widening when the black truck came to a stop in the neatly raked gravel in front of his porch, Will opened the door and hopped the short distance down to the ground before reaching back into the truck. Grabbing the squirming Sam tightly, Will slung him over his shoulder, snickering when he heard Ironhide comment that he now understood the human saying about being slung over someone's shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

Opening the screen door of his home, Will stepped in after carefully wiping the soles of his shoes on the welcome mat outside. Striding into the kitchen, Will met his wife's exasperated look with a (what he hoped was) a charming smile and set Sam down on one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table with a flourish. "My lady asked for a youngling and I have provided a youngling. So when's dinner?" He asked as he ruffled the long brown hair of the tied up teen.

"I said _invite _him over for dinner Will." Sarah said with a note of exasperation in her voice. "I _did not_ say tie the poor thing up and drag him here kicking and screaming."

It was Sam's turn to smirk as the Captain deflated under his wife's words. Struggling against his bonds as best as he could, Sam turned a pleading look up at the woman before quickly smothering a satisfied grin when she smacked Will on the arm as she moved beside him to begin untying the plethora of ropes holding him still, Sam stretched contentedly as soon as the last rope fell to the floor.

"I just can't get any kind of appreciation." Will grumbled as he slumped into the chair next to Sam.

"It's what happens when you act before you think." Sam said nonchalantly, his elbows resting on the table with his laced hands in front of his face covering the broad smirk on his lips. "I think that it might be a genetic defect since my Creator says that the twins Sideswipe and Sunstreaker seem to have the same problem with acting before or without thinking."

"Brat." Will retorted affectionately his hand reaching up to muss the already messy brown hair again. "I don't know where you learned to be such a pain in the aft. 'Specially since Bee's so well behaved."

"Bumblebee?" Sam repeated softly his eyes widening in disbelief before narrowing. "Are we talking about the same Bumblebee that lubricated all over Agent Simmons?"

"He did what?"

"He popped the cap on his oil port and then lubricated all over Simmons until Optimus felt like telling him to stop."

"Is that a fact?"

"Yup."

"And Ironhide didn't tell me this?"

"Word is: Ironhide and Jazz were the ones to teach Bee some of the more… immature things he's capable of."

"Really?" Will practically purred, his gaze darting towards the meadow where he knew Ironhide had taken off to after dropping both him and Sam off. "I'm gonna have to have a chat with 'Hide about this."

"Let me know when and where, and I'll get the camera for blackmail." Sam added eagerly before the pair locked gazes and burst into loud laughter. Standing at the kitchen sink peeling the potatoes she was going to use for dinner, Sarah Lennox rolled her eyes at the antics of the two boys at the kitchen table. It seemed as though Will had found a way around being an only child she thought to herself.

DoX

"So what's a Bond of Surrogate Creation mean?" Sarah asked her eyebrows drawn together in a frown as she fed Annabelle some of the mashed potatoes.

Setting his fork down on his plate with a quiet clink as the metal hit the dinner china, Sam used his napkin to wipe his mouth before answering. "It means that he's kinda like my dad in a way."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah. It just basically means that no one can do anything to me or ask anything of me without his permission." Sam continued his head tilting to the side as he spoke. "It—it means a lot that Ratchet offered to do that. Some of the Surrogate Bonds can be just as strong, if not stronger than some of the actual bonds between true Creators and their Creations."

"He offered you protection." Will said flatly before reaching out to serve himself some more of the pot roast set on the table. "This would explain why he tore Def. Sec. Keller a new one when he asked about sending you over to your family on your mom's side after you woke up."

"Yeah. He told me about that." Sam turned his eyes downward as he began to idly trace nonsense patterns on the white tablecloth. "But you also have to realize that the Autobots offer sanctuary to the neutrals of their race as well as those that have already enlisted. Ratchet thinks that most of the mechs under Optimus' command will come around and realize that I'm not just some replacement for the cube…but not everyone will see things that way."

"And having Bee's protection as your bond mate wouldn't be enough if they wanted to start something, right?" Will guessed, realizing that his shot in the dark was either spot on or close enough when the teen stiffened.

"Bond mate?" Sarah asked, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the kitchen as she continued to feed Annabelle.

"Um…yeah." Sam said awkwardly feeling the blood rush to his face. "I guess—I guess you could say that we're sorta…_kinda_ like dating in human terms."

"What?" Beginning to laugh, Sarah's laughter died away when she realized that both her husband and young guest were staring somberly at her. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I'm not." Sam replied quietly, his eyes still staring down at the rapidly cooling food on his plate. "Bee saved my life by bonding with me when I was fifteen. And now—now that bond's protecting me from Megatron. Bumblebee gave up a lot when he used the First Bond to save me, and as long as he wants to keep it I'll stand by his choice."

"But what about kids? Don't you wanna have a normal life?" Sarah protested her hands stilling in their motions of spooning the mashed potatoes into Annabelle's eagerly awaiting mouth.

"What normal life could I have, Mrs. Lennox?" Sam asked bitterly, his eyes shadowed by the loose strands of hair escaping the confines of his braid. "I'm the Allspark now. Any hope of me having a normal life died the day that the Allspark crashed here on Earth. I'm not going to leave Bumblebee to have kids just so that I can live to watch them grow and die along with their descendents. I'm going to live longer than anyone on Earth, Mrs. Lennox. Primus! I'll probably still be alive when our sun decides to go the way that all stars do, taking the Earth with it when it does."

"Maybe I'd think differently if my parents had lived longer than they did." Sam continued on softly, his violet eyes rising to meet Sarah's own eyes which were full of sadness. "But they didn't. I was raised as any Autobot would have been and I'm still being raised as an Autobot youngling. I don't know what it means to be completely human anymore, if I ever did."

Standing from his chair at the kitchen table, Sam picked up his plate of half eaten food and took it to the trash can emptying it before setting it down into the sink full of soapy water. "Dinner was great. But I think I need to be getting back home. Thanks for having me over Will. Mrs. Lennox." Walking from the kitchen, Sam exited the house before turning towards the meadow he could hear Ironhide using. Swiping at his moist eyes angrily, Sam called out to the black mech now lying on his back in the middle of the meadow.

"Hey Ironhide!"

Smiling uncertainly at the mech as he rose and moved to stand over him, Sam's mind wandered back to the questions brought up by Sarah again. Slag it! Why couldn't his life just be simple for once? Did he somehow frag Primus off and just not realize it? Jolting out of his thoughts that Ironhide was kneeling in front of him and asking him something with concern visible in his optics, Sam swallowed the painful lump of emotion rising in his throat and spoke in a hoarse tone.

"Just take me home? Please?"

DoX

"Do I have to do this?" Sam asked for what Ratchet's processor told him was the third time in a single minute. "I mean, we can always do it some other day right?"

"Youngling, they are _not_ going to gift wrap you and give you to the Decepticons." Ratchet said exasperatedly, his optics closing briefly in annoyance. "Optimus thinks that it would be a good idea for you to be introduced to the Autobots that you haven't met. I happen to agree with his assessment, as does Bumblebee."

"Yeah, you bunch of traitors."

"Sam." Ratchet said softly the Hummer kneeling down in front of the teen. "This is something more than just a simple desire to avoid being introduced, isn't it?"

"No."

"Then what in Primus' name are you so worried about?"

"How much are we telling them?"

"Only that you were left orphaned by the Decepticon attack that claimed the lives of your parents and left you in Bumblebee's care." Ratchet answered softly, as his processor finally understood the reason for Sam's reluctance. "We will also be telling them that you are my adopted Creation. See if the little slaggers try anything."

DoX

"This is Sam." Optimus Prime said gesturing to the slender violet eyed teen being held in place by Ratchet's restraining hand on his shoulder. "Ratchet has adopted him through the Creators Surrogate and Bumblebee has raised him since he was out of sparklinghood. I expect that all of you here will be able to adjust to the fact that Sam will be living with us."

"Slagging well better." Ratchet murmured under his breath, his optics staring at the collective mass of Autobot mechs gathered in the rec room. "I'll turn the lot of them into four wheelers while they recharge if they don't."

"Bee?" Sam whispered to the yellow minibot standing beside him as he leaned away from Ratchet. "Aren't medics supposed to _heal _their patients? Not, oh I dunno… threaten to turn them into toasters or various other primitive forms of electronic equipment."

"Ratchet's always been like that." Bee answered the teen, his optics fixed on the menacing look the CMO was now gracing the mechs with. "But I'd really like it if you could just keep repairing me like you always do. I can do without tools being thrown at my cranial unit."

DoX

"Sam!" Jazz's voice called out from behind the teen as he sat on one of the tables in the rec room reading over the data pad containing his latest batch of missed school assignments. "Wha' ya up to?"

"Studying some stuff that Bee left for me." Sam answered as he bit the eraser end of his pencil. "I got behind on it so I'm trying to catch up."

"What kinda stuff?"

"Ummm…" Sam said flipping through the files in the data pad his Creator and bond mate had both handed to him. "Ratchet wants me to study the Iacon dialect a little more, and Bee left me math and science."

"So that makes how many dialects now?" Jazz asked as he sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the table the teen was seated on. "Bee said ya was still learnin' but how many ya actually know?"

"Kaon, Tyrest, Protihex, Praxus, Uraya, Polyhex and Kalis." Sam answered counting the dialects off on his hand as he tilted his head to the side. "Bee said we'll get started on Altihex, Nova Cronum, Tagon Heights, and Hydrax Plateau as soon as he can get the data pad ready."

"But Bee said the reason he was teachin' ya to learn the dialects was 'cause of his systems revertin' back to Cybertronian when his repair systems forced him offline." Jazz asked, the visible portion of his face carefully wiped clear of any emotion that could give him away. "Ya got a chance to act like a normal younglin' Sam, why ain't ya jus' kickin' back and enjoyin' the opportunity?"

Setting the data pad down onto the surface of the table, Sam rose gracefully from his cross-legged seat and moved the few steps needed to bring him face to face with the Solstice. "Because the war isn't over yet, Jazz." Sam answered solemnly, his violet eyes flashing with barely restrained emotion. "I can't fight but I'll be damned if I let you all go out there without me. If I could repair Bee well enough to keep the slagger online for the past four years, then how hard can doing it here be?"

"Ya told them yet?"

"No." Sam replied shaking his head. "I can't, because I know they wouldn't let me if they knew. But I'm not… I _can't_ just sit off to the side and watch it happen again.

"They jus' be wantin' to know that ya safe while they're off fightin' or repairin'." Jazz said calmly, his hand reaching out to pick up the discarded data pad from the tabletop. "Ya can't blame 'em for wantin' to know that ya're safe if nothin' else is."

"No I can't." Sam said heavily running a hand through his loose hair. "But I'm not gonna just sit around waiting and hoping that everyone comes back. I'm a competent medic Jazz; I know what I'm doing and what I still don't know Ratchet can teach me. Primus, I can read seven different dialects and I'm passably fluent in an eighth one as well. There's no reason that I shouldn't be able to help where I can."

"If that's what ya really think…" Jazz said pensively raising his free hand to lift the edge of his visor to meet Sam's eyes with his sapphire hued optics. "Then I think that ya need to be talkin' with ya Creator and bond mate 'bout all this. It ain't gonna do any of y'all any good to be thinkin' different things without talkin' 'bout it."

"Yeah. I guess." Sam murmured softly as he reached out to retrieve his data pad, only to be startled when the saboteur held it out of his reach. "What gives Jazz?"

"Ya been stuck here in base since ya woke up." Jazz replied easily, his face plates curving into an unrepentant grin. "And ya go back to your place of primary education tomorrow… So how 'bout we go for a drive?"

This was going to be longer, but I felt that this was the perfect place to cut it off. I hope that you guys like this chapter, considering the amount of stress it gave me, and I think I found a white hair from it too! Either way, the next chapter is already about halfway done and should be posted within the next week or so. Just depends on how much time I have left to write after work.


	5. Chapter 5 Part One

Experiences

Chapter Five

Part One

"Dammit Sam!" Will snarled as he helped the teen behind a piece of broken wall that had some point in time belonged to the store lying demolished in the street. "What the _hell_ happened to staying out of the way?"

"Uh hello!" Sam retorted sarcastically, his hands swinging in the direction they'd just come from. "Did you _not_ see the slagging Decepticons? Isn't my fault if Starscream and cronies wanted to play tag."

Seven Hours Earlier:

"Have him back here by 1900 hours, or I'll rethink letting Wheeljack and Perceptor use you as their guinea pig."

Blanching at Ratchet's threat, Will nodded furiously while remembering the vivid discussion that said mechs had had in regards to human experimentation if they could find a willing human subject. Ironhide had told him that if for some reason he'd ever angered Ratchet enough for the medic to leave him with the pair, then Ironhide didn't hear or see anything. Basic translation? You're on your own there, buddy because I will have become as neutral as Switzerland.

"Don't worry so much Ratchet." Sam said, coming up behind the Hummer still tying off the end of his wet braid as he spoke. "We're just going into town to visit Sparkplug and let him know I'm still alive and okay. It's not like we're running off to go antagonize the Decepticons."

"And my concerns would not be mirrored in your guardian if you would simply consent to having someone other than Captain Lennox accompanying you."

"Will already said that Epps is gonna meet us there as soon as we get into town." Sam explained patiently for what felt like the five hundredth time since he'd first broached the subject with both his guardian and surrogate. "Will's gonna call him before we get into town, so it's not like I'm going to Sparkplug's garage alone. And besides, this is _Sparkplug_ we're talking about. It's not like he's secretly in contact with Starscream or something."

"Youngling, you are not taking our concerns seriously…"

"I would if you guys weren't overreacting." Sam interrupted calmly, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned against the doorway leading out of the base. "I can't take Bee or any one of you guys because one, I don't have an excuse as to why I'd be driving something so obviously expensive. And two, I'm going to pick up my bike."

"Your bike?" Will asked confused, his eyes darting between the tense CMO, angry Bumblebee, and nonchalant Sam. "I thought we were just going to meet up with your old boss."

"We are. It just happens that I have a motorcycle that he gave me there. I finished fixing it up just before everyone got here."

"You are _not _using that Primus forsaken piece of scrap." Bumblebee growled, finally breaking the silence that had come over him when Ratchet had begun threatening Will about Sam's safety. "I would let _Barricade_ drive you around before I let you onto that smelting pit reject."

"I can't believe you're going to start this again." Sam muttered in disbelief as his arms loosened from their position so he could point at the yellow 'bot. "_You_ said that you had gotten over this whole jealousy thing about the fragging motorcycle! We discussed this and agreed to me getting the bike because it was impractical for you to take me everywhere I needed to go. Especially since we didn't know when the rest of the Autobots were going to get here."

"And since they have arrived it seemed to me that the discussion regarding that death wish on wheels had been resolved in that you would no longer be requiring its dubious reliability."

"I am not arguing with you about this again, Bee." Sam said calmly, his body relaxing from the tenseness it had taken on at the beginning of Bee's speech. "The last time we argued about something like this, we ended up getting ambushed, you got slagged and I got to spend the better part of two days putting you back together thinking that I would never get to apologize to you. So I am going to leave with Will, see Sparkplug, pick up my bike, then I'll come back and we can talk about this like two calm, rational people would do."

Smiling to lessen the brunt of his rebuke, Sam turned around and left the hallway the quartet had been standing in. Raising his left hand he let it trail along the smooth metal walls of the hallway as he concentrated on pushing away the marks that had resurfaced on his hands when he'd begun to loose his temper. He'd noticed it happening a lot when his emotions were particularly intense, and while it served to calm him down when it happened, it also was beginning to worry him to an extent. After all, he thought as his hand was brought to his chest to rub at the spot of rapidly ebbing pain, it couldn't be normal for his chest to start hurting at the same time that the marks would appear, could it?

DoX

Situated on a nearby sand dune, cloaked from the Autobots scanners, a dark armored mech opened a line of communication as he watched a human youth with braided hair exiting the base, closely followed by an older man.

"The organic is leaving without escort. Awaiting further orders."

"Acknowledged: Follow. Send coordinates: Starscream's trine will rendezvous."

"Understood." Grinning in a feral manner at the humans leaving the base behind in a trail of dust being kicked up by the truck being driven by the oldest of the pair, the mech left his position as well. "Your planet will burn fleshling, and you'll be the one to help us in that cause."

DoX

Driving on the highway just outside of Tranquility, Will pulled out his cell phone and handed it over to Sam in the passenger's seat. "Call Epps and let him know that we're almost there." He said to the confused teen. "It'll be easier if you give him the directions since I don't have a clue where we're going."

"You have a map." Sam pointed out bluntly.

"I'm driving."

"You have GPS."

"Epps doesn't."

"He has TeleNav on his phone."

"Brat." Will retorted affectionately. "Would you just call him and give him the directions already?"

"You know if you're what I'd be like when I'm thirty, I think I'm glad that I'm not gonna age anymore." Sam teased, ducking the swat aimed at his head as he laughed. "I'll have to remember to get you a cane and see if Ratchet can't do something about that virility problem I hear older men have trouble with. Wouldn't want Annabelle to be an only child right?"

DoX

"So this is where you work?"

"Worked." Sam corrected absently as he exited the truck to stand in front of the familiar garage. "Sparkplug gave me a job. Didn't ask me for social or anything, just told me that I had a job as long as I needed it."

"Sounds like a nice guy." Will said neutrally, his eyes darting over to Sam before he continued on casually. "He didn't um… molest you or anything right? Cause I have a gun if he did."

"Will!" Sam sputtered, his face turning a rosy shade of red as he stared aghast at the Special Ops Captain. "Where in Primus' name did you even _come up with that_?"

"Dateline's 'To Catch a Predator'." Will answered with a shrug as he followed the still blushing teen into the garage. "It was on TV and the only channel the base could get that wasn't full of snow."

"Hey Sparkplug!" Sam called out into the empty front desk area of the garage, his blue eyes scanning the area for the garage's owner, as he valiantly tried to ignore Will's commentary on the sexual deviants of the world. "You here? It's Sam!"

"Sam?" Sparkplug's shocked voice echoed from the garage as the man's balding head peeked around the corner leading into the waiting room. His face brightened before he bounded into the room and picked the slender teen up in a massive bear hug.

Laughing as he wrapped his arms around the older man in return, Sam jokingly gasped for breath as he realized that his toes were barely brushing against the floor. Still laughing when Sparkplug finally set back down on the floor and let go of him, Sam gestured over to an uncomfortable looking Will standing in the corner. "Sparkplug, I want you to meet Will. He's been taking care of me."

"Is that a fact?" Sparkplug asked, turning to look at Will measuringly before stepping forward and holding his hand out. "Nice to meet you, I've been watching over this rascal since he was still nothing more than a brat with more words and skills than he knew what to do with."

Grasping the proffered hand in his own, Will offered a tight smile before speaking. "Yeah, well the kid's got brains. He's working with me for the government now."

"Really?" Sparkplug asked, his eyes darting over to look at Sam who was talking excitedly with the other mechanics who had followed behind him. "And what part of the government would that be?"

"The military."

"Really? And why would that be?" The balding older man asked softly. "Surely the military can do better than a seventeen year old kid living on the streets."

"Like you said, he's got more words and skills than he knows what to do with." Will replied, his hand squeezing just a fraction tighter. "We offered him the chance to finish up his education, have a full time job and a roof over his head."

"So you bribed him?" The man's voice was flat, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Look, I know it sounds bad when I say it, but Sam has a chance to get the hell out of the hole he fell into." Will hissed quietly, his eyes flashing in barely suppressed anger. "The kid's been livin' on the streets since he was eight. Wasn't much else gonna come his way that was better than what we were offering."

"You're the one watching over him?" Receiving a curt nod as his answer, Sparkplug loosened his grip and took a step back. "Good, keep it that way. The kid deserves better than he's gotten. If you screw him over, I swear to God, military or not I'll hunt you down."

"With the way Sam's talked about you, I wouldn't expect any less." Will replied, as he looked up to see Sam grinning and playfully pushing one of the other mechanics. "And if it ever came to that, I hope that I'd been brainwashed or something. Cause I think there'd be a line to get to me."

"With the way he is, I wouldn't be surprised."

DoX

Checking the last of his mental list, Sam beamed at his completely restored bike before turning to Will who was standing behind him. "So what'd you and Sparkplug talk about?"

"Oh you know." Will said blandly, his own hands running appreciatively over the glossy blue paint job. "We were just talking about sports, the weather, you know… normal stuff."

"Right," Sam answered skeptically, "and Jazz is secretly Megatron's love Creation."

"You wound me Sam." Will jokingly clasped his hands to his chest in a wounded position, staggering around the portion of the garage they were in. "One might think that you don't trust me."

"I trust you." Sam answered amiably, his smile turning devious as he pretended to be absorbed in checking the fuel line. "I trust you about as much as Ratchet and Prowl trust the twins to behave."

"Hey!"

"Anyway," Sam continued on ignoring Will's indignant exclamation, "I'm ready to leave. When's Epps getting here?"

"Last time I called him, he said that he was only a couple of blocks away."

"Does that mean I can go ahead of you guys?"

"Do I look like I'm suicidal or have otherwise lost any sense of self preservation I may have ever had?"

"You're Special Ops, doesn't that automatically mean that you have no sense of self preservation left?"

"No, it just means that I've learned to ignore that little voice in the back of my head asking what the hell I think I'm doing, and why the hell aren't I running away like any _sane_ person would."

"You hear voices and you passed your psych evaluation, how?"

"The shrinks don't care about the voices as long as the voices are yelling things like, 'RUN IDIOT RUN' and stuff."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better."

DoX

"So, remember to stay where we can see ya."

Nodding his head absently as Epps and Lennox continued talking to him as he pulled his helmet on, Sam grinned wildly before peeling out of the garage parking lot leaving the pair behind to stare at his rapidly disappearing form in disbelief.

"Did he just—"

"Yup."

"And we're—"

"Yup."

"I am so fucked."

"Yup."

"Thanks so much for the sympathy there Epps. Really I can just feel the love in the air."

"You want love in the air, you need to be watchin' the Lion King, man. Cause I ain't no Mufasa."

"_Hey guys! What's the hold up!"_

"You wait right where you are." Will snarled into his Bluetooth as he stomped over to his truck, slamming the door shut behind him as he gunned the engine and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving matching tread marks on the asphalt. "Don't you _dare_ move another inch until we catch up, got it?"

"_Hey Epps?"_

"Yeah?" Epps answered Sam's call through his own Bluetooth.

"_Will's gonna be one of those dad's sitting on the front porch with the shotgun waiting for Annabelle to get home, isn't he?"_

Getting into his Mustang, Epps burst into loud laughter at the incoherent sputters coming from Will's end. Honestly, he thought, whoever came up with the idea of linking them into the Autobot comm. lines using Bluetooth technology was a fucking genius.

DoX

Sam leaned his body in sync with the bike underneath him as he roared around a corner, dimly aware of the sounds of screeching tires behind him. Once Will and Epps had caught up with him at the gas station just down the street from Sparkplug's garage, the two older men had acquiesced to his request to let loose on his bike, provided that they would be able to keep up. Speed was one of the reasons that he enjoyed going out driving with Jazz; the Solstice had no problem in going as fast as he was able to.

Growing up the way he had had given Sam a deep appreciation for speed, and while Bumblebee only went at 'excessive' speeds when it was called for, Jazz could be talked into it with minimal effort on Sam's part. This was mostly why Sam was so excited about his bike being ready and finally having permission to leave base to do something other than going to school or out with one of the Autobots to guard him. Whooping excitedly as he pulled onto the freeway, Sam enjoyed the freedom that weaving in and out of the traffic gave him for the next couple of hours.

"_SAM!"_

Will's worried voice crackled over the comm. link built into the helmet given to him by Wheeljack shortly before he'd left the base. Glancing into his side mirrors to see what was causing Will and Epps to shout curses, violet eyes widened as he noticed the Decepticons symbols adorning the cars rapidly gaining on him. "Shit!"

DoX

"Get off the freeway!" Will barked as he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal as far it would go. The teen was now swerving through the heavily congested traffic erratically in an attempt to reach an offramp before he could be cut off from it. When they'd planned to go through Mission City on their way back to base, no one had even thought to make arrangements to avoid any major thoroughfares in case of the Decepticons attacking. Because honestly, now that the Allspark had been destroyed, what reason would the Decepticons have for targeting Sam when they'd been doing nothing but lying low for the past couple of months?

Looking to the driver of the car still next to him, Will nodded to Epps as the black Mustang revved loudly before shooting forward. Changing the signals his phone was broadcasting with one hand, Will nearly sighed in relief when Jazz's voice came through his Bluetooth.

"Wha's up, Will?"

"Back-up!" Will yelled as he continued to watch Sam try desperately to avoid the cars still following him. "Decepticons behind Sam. Epps is trying to distract them long enough for the kid to get off the freeway. We'll try and hide out long enough for you guys to get here, but you'd better make it fast."

"You sure 'bout them bein' 'Cons?"

"Unless you know someone else running around with purple symbols and that like runnin' kids off the road, then yeah I'm sure." Will retorted sarcastically, his grip on the steering wheel tightening momentarily when the teen in question zipped in between two cars, over solid white lines and onto the offramp leading into downtown Mission City. "He's off, we'll find somewhere to stop so we can load his bike and just lie low until you guys show up."

"Gotcha," Jazz answered, "just keep your line open so we can track ya."

DoX

Directed by Will, Sam managed to lose the two cars behind him by navigating through the alleyways littering downtown. Trembling as he came to a stop in front of the waiting men, Sam removed his helmet and let his forehead touch against his bike in relief. Today had given him an all new respect for his guardian while he was growing up. He'd thought that he was a good driver, but that was nothing when you were trying to run from someone that _was_ the fragging car. Talk about knowing your car like the back of your hand.

"You okay?"

Lifting his head up long enough to grin at Will weakly, Sam's shoulders slumped with a tired sigh. "They're never going to let me go anywhere alone again." He muttered dejectedly as Epps pulled him off the bike gently and lead him over to Will's still running truck to lean against it. "This just isn't fair."

"Yeah well to hear Will tell it." Epps said nudging the teen with an elbow in the ribs. "They seem to think that you're still a kid, so get used to sayin' that things ain't fair. Cause when you got people that care, a lot of things don't seem fair."

"Hey a little help here!" Will called out from where he was trying to load the still hot bike into the bed of his truck. "Epps! Don't stand there yapping, come help!"

"You know Will," Sam began to tease the military man again only to cut himself off mid-sentence his head tilting to the side. Holding his hand up for the other two to be quiet, Sam turned his horrified gaze up to the sky as the all too familiar screech of jet engines began to fill the air. His eyes widened as he noticed the red and white paint scheme of the one of the jets before taking in the purple and black jet as well as the blue one flanking it. It was Starscream; he'd know that color scheme anywhere, considering how often he spent running from it when he was younger. Reaching into his pocket for his cell phone as Will began yelling for him to run, Sam had no time to move before the street in front of him seemed to explode.

Wincing as he sat up amidst the screams and sounds of pounding feet against the broken asphalt, Sam wiped the blood obscuring his vision away. Firm but still gentle hands pulled him to his feet as his side began to sting and he could feel the sticky warmth coating him. Trying to get his vision to focus on Will as the world seemed to spin around him; Sam blinked his eyes rapidly as he noticed the older man's mouth moving. Strange, he thought fuzzily, Will was trying to talk to him without saying anything.

His world rapidly snapped back into startling clarity when the older man exasperated, shook him until the fog in his mind cleared. "Will?" The teen asked weakly, groaning as he pressed a hand to the bleeding gash on his side. "Wha—what happened?"

"Looks like that jet from a couple months ago came back." Will replied grimly, his eyes tracing the movements of the jets behind Sam. "And he brought friends."

"Is it too late for me to retire?" Epps asked as he stumbled over to join them from where he'd been thrown by the explosion. "Cause I don't remember signin' anything that said I was gonna be fightin' giant robots, man."

"It isn't that bad." Sam said shakily, his eyes still unfocused. "Once you get past all of the gruesome ways they can kill you. Like stepping on you, squishing you…"

"I think we get the point, Sam."

"Oh, you shure?" Sam asked nearly slurring his words, stumbling as he turned to look at Will. "Cause I'm purty shure I made a lisht at shome point. I can go looking for it later, if you want me to."

"I'm sure."

"Okay."

"Epps, see if you can get in touch with the base." Will ordered as he grasped Sam's arm and started leading the teen over the torn up street. "Tell them that the kid's got a concussion, and he's bleeding pretty heavily. We'll need medical and general reinforcements as soon as they can get it to us."

"Gotcha."

Reaching his overturned truck, Will let Sam sit on a broken piece of concrete as he rummaged around in the busted cab. Pulling out the emergency medical kit that he'd stowed in there not long after he'd joined Special Ops and had become paranoid enough to start carrying one around with him everywhere, Will kneeled down next to the still dazed teen. Moving so that he was holding the teen down, Will poured the small bottle of disinfect over the gash liberally, wincing in sympathy when the teen yelled. Gently wrapping the gash with gauze and taping it into place, Will helped the teen back up to his feet.

"I doubt that we're gonna be safe out in the open like this." Will commented, his battle-hardened eyes scanning the skies for any signs of their attackers returning for a second shot. "So you need to find somewhere to hide and Epps and I'll run interference for you until our friends get here."

"Heh." Sam chuckled weakly, his head beginning to clear of the fog that was still clouding so much of his thoughts. "You want me to run, while you guys try and fight."

"I made a promise that I'd keep you safe, Sam." Will reminded him as they walked over to where Epps was standing under one of the few places of cover the ruined street offered. "I'm not gonna break it, not when Ratchet'll hand me over to those two science geek friends of his."

"Dun worry." Sam said his words still somewhat slurred. "I'll protect you."

"No offense Sam." Will said grinning as he helped the teen to sit down again. "But right now you couldn't protect a ball of yarn from a cat."

Any response Sam may have made was stopped by the tense bodies around him. Instinct ingrained into him from the long years of being ambushed and running, Sam immediately stilled and forced his body to be ready to run if he had to. It was one of the few times he was glad that sometimes it didn't matter how slagged you were as long as you still had your experience and instinct to guide your actions.

And that is it for Chapter Five. I hope that you all enjoyed the product of many nights of labor. Seriously, I've been working on this since Christmas. I think I've rewritten this chapter at least three times before I finally found a piece of plot that worked for me. Chapter Six will come out as soon as I can force myself to write, but seeing as how we're down to three employees at work again, and I have no days off in the foreseeable future, I wouldn't hold out much hope for Chapter Six to be posted anytime soon. Happy New Year everyone, and I hope that the coming year is better than the past one.


	6. Chapter 5 Part Two

Experiences

A/N: A thank you to all the people who have been reviewing this story since I first posted it and for being so patient with me. I honestly never expected for anyone to like it as much as it seems like. I was terrified that no one would like it and was fully prepared to deal with that eventuality. Thanks guys and know that every review that I read on my phone at work makes my co-workers look at me funny because I can't help but to start 'squeeing' uncontrollably.

I'll just say this now before I get on with the story… I'M SO SORRY!

Chapter Five

Part Two

Sam was absolutely terrified. The feelings reminded him of the way he'd felt that night he was eight and had watched as his parents were murdered over an inconsequential (at the time) family heirloom. Leaning against the crumbling wall of the building he was taking shelter near, Sam winced as he pressed a trembling hand against his throbbing side. Red stained his hand as he pulled it away and Sam wiped it away on the already dirty fabric of his ripped blue jeans. Squinting as he raised his hand to cover his eyes, Sam stared at the patch of sky that could be seen from the dark alleyway he was in.

It had been about an hour and a half since he'd been separated from Will and Epps; he reasoned looking at the sun's position in the darkening sky. And just before their communications had been jammed, they'd been told that barring any obstacles the Autobots would be there in about an hour. Sighing as he tried futilely to get the bleeding from his side to stop, Sam glanced up at the sky once more. The Seekers that had been chasing them since they'd entered Mission City had seemed to center their attentions on Sam and as such, the teen had been in constant motion.

Grimacing in disgust when he felt a new warm trickle down his side, Sam clenched his blood stained hands tightly before beginning to creep through the shadows he was using to hide in. He honestly hadn't thought that he would have ever been so thankful that his bond mate was a scout/spy and as such had been insistent on Sam learning at least the bare basics involved with moving around unnoticed. But it seemed that his guardian's excessive (or at least at the time he'd thought it excessive) paranoia was coming in rather handy.

Keeping close to the walls as he crept through the rubble strewn alleyway, violet eyes widened as the all too familiar sounds of jet engines broke the sense of depressing silence that had fallen over the section of the city he was in. Resignedly he began to dart through the shadows at a much faster pace, keenly aware of the distance being closed at an unnerving rate.

Running from them though gave him the chance he needed to think. To think about why it was that he was so determined to help his friends. About why he was so insistent about not being left behind while they went off to fight. Unfortunately it was an answer that he wouldn't find by asking anyone… it was something that he had to find where he'd hidden it away in himself.

In retrospect, understand his reasons for accepting the Allspark was simple. He hadn't been able to cope with the fact that if he refused then those Sparks still functioning would be the last to ever be seen, and when they were called by the Matrix… they would become nothing more than a memory that would slowly be lost to the ravages of time. The thought that his best friend, his guardian, his… "Slaggit." Sam muttered under his breath as he realized that he still couldn't give voice to the feelings he felt for Bumblebee, even in the safety of his own mind.

Ducking into a store situated on the corner of the alleyway he was in Sam held his breath, hoping that he might have lost the Seeker trine again. Biting his lip against the wave of nausea rolling his stomach, Sam closed his eyes briefly against the feeling. Opening his eyes again, Sam eyed the interior of the store nervously before beginning to make his way towards the back hoping that he'd be able to find a first aid kit in the backroom.

DoX

"Thundercracker." Starscream said breaking their long silence over the comm. lines. "Send word back to Soundwave that we're got the organic youngling separated and trapped."

"Star—"

"Just do it, Thundercracker." Starscream snapped over the comm. line, retreating back into his own thoughts once more. It was beginning to seem that there was a lot more to this organic youngling than Megatron would have them believe. The intense scans that he'd run over the unaware youth had come back with some rather disconcerting results. And the only possible reasons he could see for that assessment would be the obvious one of the youngling being the last to hold the Allspark before it simply disappeared.

He may have questioned many things about his Leader's decisions in the vorns that had passed since he'd first sworn allegiance to him in Kaon, but he'd never for a second doubted his Leader's knowledge of the Allspark's whereabouts at any given point in time. Skyfire, he thought to himself in one of the rare times that he allowed himself to think of his old partner, would have known _exactly_ what was happening.

But then again, he thought sadly before dragging himself firmly into what he was doing, if Skyfire were still around then he wouldn't have been worrying about it. Because if Skyfire hadn't died then Starscream wouldn't have lost his will to continue his scientific pursuits, and he certainly wouldn't have joined the War Academy and graduated with honors and the command of the trine he'd been assigned to. And he undoubtedly would never have joined Megatron because he knew deep in his Spark, with a certainty that scared him that Skyfire would have sent his pacifistic nature to the Pits if that's what it would have taken to keep Starscream from joining.

DoX

Fumbling with the plastic clasp holding the first aid kit he'd unearthed from where it had been nearly buried by the shelf it was on after being knocked off of the wall, Sam threw the box in the exasperated hope that it would open. Rolling his eyes when the lid of the kit struck the sharp edge of a nearby shelf and cracked open, spilling its contents onto the floor, Sam moved and knelt down beside it. Neatly gathering the items in his arms, he pushed as much as he was able to in his pockets before using what was left on himself.

Racking his mind, Sam tried to remember the right way to tie off the gauze he'd managed to wrap around his injuries. Or rather he tried to remember the best way to tie it off and get it to stay in place, something that he'd learned through the years and lots of trial and error. "Hah!" Grinning triumphantly as he remembered the right way and wasted no time in utilizing the memory, the smile slid off his face to be replaced by a look of contemplation.

"Where are you guys?" He whispered to himself before standing and exiting the store.

DoX

He was worried, and for once his worry wasn't coming out in the form of his infamous temper. Instead he was quiet and followed in line behind Optimus Prime as they tried to reach the city. Little over an hour before, communications had been cut abruptly, and the chilling realization that his youngling was basically defenseless in a city with Decepticons hunting him had struck him with the force of one his thrown arc welders.

Shifting his scanners, Ratchet turned them in the direction of the eerily silent Camaro on the road behind him. The normally bubbly mech's mood had seemed to grow darker and darker since he'd first sunk to his knees with a startled cry in the base. Realizing immediately what was happening, Jazz had sent Prowl off to warn Optimus while he'd carefully helped the younger mech to his feet and escorted him to both the med bay and Ratchet.

While both mech's held a bond with the organic youngling that had come to mean so much to the both of them, Ratchet's was still much different than that of Bumblebee's. So while Bumblebee had felt the full brunt of what Sam had, Ratchet had been aware of only what had happened and had felt none of the pain had accompanying it. Still it was more than enough to cause the CMO to ignore the stunned optics of the twins he'd been arguing with and begin bustling around the med bay as he gathered the various things he would need.

A slow, simmering anger was beginning to build in him at the knowledge that his youngling was without any sort of aid and was injured and scared on top of it. Clenching his hands tightly around the delicate instruments in his hands, he'd relaxed his grip only when the sensors in his hands alerted him of the cracking metal. He hadn't felt such irrational fear like this since before he'd been separated from his own bond mate after the Allspark had been jettisoned into space during the battle of Tyger Pax.

Nestled in the depths of his Spark was the thought that no matter how much his youngling wanted to remain the unassuming organic creature the others saw, he _knew_ that today could ruin all of that. As it was, he had the sinking feeling that the twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker (the latter especially) suspected that there was more than just a simple guardian/charge relationship between the youngling and Bumblebee when the he was helped into the med bay by Jazz.

Laying him onto a table, Ratchet had to work quickly to gain access to Bumblebee's resisting core systems and to begin to block the effects of the First Bond. He'd never before been so grateful of the classes he'd taken in Iacon before the war that had described the effects of the bonds on a processor and the subsequent in depth explanation on how to effectively limit the bond and its effects, to solely the bonded's Spark.

Nearly finished with his work, Ratchet began to run a scan over Bumblebee, assuring himself that he had indeed done the procedure correctly, disregarding the number of times he'd been called on to do it before. For a moment, his hands had stilled in their methodical work in closing Bumblebee's cranial unit as he stared dumbfounded at the results his scanners were giving him. The bond between the pair was beginning to move away from the irregular patterns that it had taken from being only a connection with a single Spark acting as the focal point, and was now taking on the more common patterns of a dual Spark bond.

"Ratch?"

Jazz's questioning voice broke the medic from his stupor, and allowed him to re-immerse himself into the final scans. As he finished his work, his processor raced with the realizations that the bond he himself held with his youngling had been changing as well, which just didn't make any sense. Sam himself had stated that the Allspark was unable to take form as a transformer simply because of the conflict caused between the multitude of immature Sparks it carried and the necessity for a mature Spark to fully function as a transformer.

So then how in all of the slaggin' Pits were the bonds changing as though the youngling was developing a Spark of his own? Ratchet's processor nearly caused him to howl in confusion at the increasingly vexing information he was slowly putting together like one would a jigsaw puzzle that he'd seen Mikaela introducing Sam to the previous week. His youngling was changing again and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing, regardless of the fact that the bonds would now change to ones that could be considered proper.

DoX

When he was younger, he remembered asking Sunny what it felt like to have a bond. The anti-social twin had stared down at him for a long moment before answering in a voice filled with more emotion than most would credit the twin with having. 'It's like everything else, it's got the good and bad. But the good always manages to make you forget the bad. Makes you forget the times that the bond lets you feel what your other half is feeling, until the bond is so stressed that it closes itself off to protect itself.' Sunstreaker had murmured, his optics holding a far away look in them as though he were remembering something. 'There's days that you thank Primus for the bond and others that you wish it had never happened. But as long as the bond's still there you always know that your other half, even if he's not in the best of shape is at least still functioning.'

Sunstreaker had turned optics full of torment down to the smaller yellow 'bot, and his vocalizer seemed to fritz out on him because whatever else he'd been about to say was left unsaid and the yellow warrior had left Bumblebee standing in the hallways of the base staring after his retreating form. Three days later, Sideswipe had been retrieved from the Decepticon base he'd been taken to after a furious battle to retrieve him, and Bumblebee had carefully stored the memory of the conversation into one of the most protected files in his processor.

Vorns had passed, and eventually the day came where Bumblebee was forced to leave his comrades behind and head to Earth. When he'd arrived, he'd immediately felt overwhelmed by the sheer gap that separated his race from the one populating the planet he was on. Even the prior contact held with the crew of Ghost-One hadn't been enough to prepare him for the complexities that seemed to both unite and divide the human race. A year had passed without him being to locate the Witwicky family and he was still as hopelessly confused about the organics as he'd been upon first arriving.

But his opinion and knowledge had slowly been changed with the presence of a traumatized human sparkling. He'd been amazed that the sparkling had been willing to trust him even when it was so apparent that others of his race were responsible for the sparkling's new orphaned status in life. And then one day while shopping, the sparkling who had now grown into a youngling by human standards, had disappeared.

The depth of the despair and anger he'd felt at the knowledge had scared him as even while fighting on Cybertron he'd never felt those emotions so intensely. And then came the sweet relief when he'd felt the faint unmistakeable signal of the tracking device inserted into the cell phone the youngling constantly carried with him. It wasn't until after he'd found Sam wandering aimlessly in the desert near Reno, Nevada that he'd stopped to think on and remember the conversation held with Sunstreaker so many vorns before.

His Spark had fairly sung with contentment when the tentative tendrils of the First Bond had been accepted, even unconsciously by the youngling dying in his hands. Somewhere along the way, he realized his feelings towards his youngling charge had begun to change from the feelings that a caretaker would hold into those one reserved for your intended bond mate. The thought had shaken him and when he'd explained to Sam the reasons behind his initiation of the bond he'd felt his Spark recoil at Sam's consequent outburst.

The thought that he would ever bond with someone other than the youngling in front of him had set his processor spiraling. He'd been harsh he knew that by the emotions flashing through the blue eyes in front of him. But he hadn't been able to find another way to express himself that wasn't so blunt. However it seemed to be the right approach as Sam had apologized and the pair had returned to their normal existence with the bond remaining between them as a reminder that not all had in fact returned to normal.

And a few weeks later when Sam had confessed to him that he was the most important being in the world to him, Bumblebee had felt as though his processor would freeze from the nearly overwhelming happiness he'd felt at the simple declaration. They'd fallen into a comfortable pattern while living in Tranquility, and then it seemed as though everything had fallen apart around them.

Barricade cornering Sam after school. The arrival of the Autobot companions he had left behind ten years ago. But the thing that had nearly killed him was watching his bond mate running through the streets, holding the Allspark in his arms. He'd known that Sam would allow himself to be killed if that's what was required to protect the cube in his arms. He'd known without having to use the bond, he'd known by the look of firm resolve in those blue eyes and by the words sent echoing across their bond as the teen had run down the street with Ironhide and Ratchet trying valiantly to protect him.

'_No sacrifice, no victory.'_

He'd begged to Primus that the terror he'd felt after the other end of the bond had gone ominously silent would never happen again. But now, he was racing back to that Primus forsaken city where his bond mate was still allowing whispers of fear and pain to float down the bond to him. While he hated the fact that his bond mate was alone, he relished the feelings at the same time because it let him know that Sam was still there. That he was still fighting and finding a way to evade the ones pursuing him.

'**BUMBLEBEE!'**

Tires screeched behind him as Bumblebee slammed on his brakes at the sudden shout of terror across the bond. Frantically grabbing onto his end of the twisting bond, a wave of overwhelming pain sped across it before the bond went quiet once more. Dimly he was aware of others surrounding him and transforming into their bipedal forms. Even more dimly he realized that Ratchet was being surrounded in much the same manner as he himself was. But none of that mattered when he couldn't feel his bond mate's presence through the silent and unresponsive link. A roar of rage and despair began to well in his Spark before being formed into sound by his vocalizer and echoing around the deserted stretch of highway they were on.

Like I said before… I'M SO SORRY!!! It's just that the chapter told me that it was done and I couldn't really argue with it. Especially when I finally managed to decide that this chapter was what I was wanting… cause I think this is the sixth rewrite. So it's been decided that Chapter Five is a three part chapter. A lot is happening here people, and you might want to pay close attention because there's a lot of foreshadowing even if you don't know its there. Until next time!

P.S. I swear I'll try to get the third part out as soon as I can. But considering that I was taken kicking and screaming to the doctor tonight (and I do mean that literally) I've been given restricted access to my laptop. Chapter Six as I've said will probably take a while to come out after Chapter Five is complete, so please be patient with me. I'm really trying my hardest here.


	7. Chapter 5 Part Three

Experiences

Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm planning on responding to review requests in the near future. Probably as soon as I'm allowed out of bed for a length of time longer than it takes to post something. But like I said, Thanks! And please keep reading.

Chapter Five

Part Three

The sky was red he realized vaguely. The beauty of the desert sunset was being marred and warped by the rising plumes of smoke from the ruined city below. Sparks were jumping up from the fires left unchecked, and the city had fallen quiet with only the crackle of flames and the sounds of falling buildings to break the unnatural silence. Turning his eyes away from the sight, violet eyes were hidden away as their owner stared unseeingly at the ground below. Hunching his shoulders at the feeling of the unrelenting ruby optics staring at him, Sam remained silent even as the largest of the mechs surrounding him began to speak to him in a deceptively calm and soothing tone of voice.

"So, the Allspark chose a new container before its destruction." Megatron said softly, his fingers tapping lightly against his crossed arms. "Such a _fragile_ container chosen. Perhaps it was the lack of options available to it at the moment, and so it chose the first to display a presence of life signs and a semblance of sentience."

"No." Sam retorted unable to stop the words tumbling out of his mouth, somehow knowing that what he was saying was the truth. "The Allspark wanted something able to defend the power it contained in a manner that it was never able to. It wanted to stop you from being able to use it for something other than creating sentient life in the manner that it was always meant to. It gave up hope on you, Megatron. It realized that the Lord High Protector that had formed the Protection Bond with it was either gone or hidden so far away that any hope of redemption was lost."

Megatron held his hand up in a clear order for silence when the indignant murmurs behind him began growing in intensity. "I see the Autobots have done a fine job of indoctrinating you in their simplistic and foolish ways." He sneered, his optics burning as they met Sam's unflinching violet gaze. "What I did saved the lives of our people from the foolishness of the Senate. A Senate that even Prime and I were unable to control in their greed."

"Maybe at first." Sam admitted, remembering the somewhat heated conversation he'd held with Bumblebee over the reasons for the Decepticon movement at the beginning of the war one day while they were talking about it. "But how many Sparks did you extinguish when Kaon fell? How about Iacon? Praxus? Vos? You sent so many to the Matrix because you refused to accept that while your reasons were good…" Sam paused for a moment to calm himself before continuing, forcing his hands to relax from the tight fists they'd clenched into. "The Senate is gone now, and your race is a shadow of itself. And Cybertron itself may as well be dead for all the life that it can sustain on its barren husk. So what _noble_ reasons do you have now for your stubborn refusal to bring an end to the war? What reason can possibly be good enough to explain your desire to dominate every life in this universe?"

"What better and faster way to repopulate Cybertron than by conquering other worlds, and using their _primitive_ technology to further bolster our ranks?" Megatron countered, his clawed hand continuing to tap on his other arm almost absently. "As for Cybertron… It will become inhabitable once the Allspark has been returned to its rightful place."

"The Allspark is me." Sam said slowly as though he were talking to a rather slow witted individual who was only a step below needing crayons and a large drawn out picture. "You can't have one without the other. And unfortunately for you, my approval is needed to even _attempt_ what you're talking about."

"I'm certain that with the right _persuasion_ you could be brought to do what I ask of you." Megatron replied dismissively before turning to speak to the silent blue mech behind him. "Soundwave, bring me those fleshlings your Creations found wandering about earlier."

Stiffening, Sam felt as though icy fingers were now trailing down his spine leaving in their wake raised hairs and an overwhelming feeling of foreboding. His feelings only intensified when a red visored mech came into view, his hands dragging Will and Epps behind him. Sam took a step forward before stopping himself and wrapping his arms around his middle as though to comfort himself as he looked up to meet Megatron's darkly amused optics.

"You know," Sam said quietly, "there used to be a time when you could have asked the Allspark for anything and it would have given it to you. Your Spark was a sense of comfort for all those waiting to be given to their Creator Sparks, and now…" Sam snorted in derision as his arms fell from his waist to clench tightly together, the knuckles of his hands white from the strain. "Now, they hide from you. Your Spark gives them nothing from pain, and there is nothing, I repeat nothing, that could make me do what you want."

Sam's eyes darted towards Will and Epps, pleading without words for forgiveness. His singed and dirty hair loose after the hair tie holding it back had been lost during one of the falls that Sam had taken while climbing his way across rubble. Will glanced at Epps and must have seen something there because the man turned back to Sam and in a raspy voice spoke clearly, his words floating across the air to ring loudly in Sam's ears.

"No sacrifice, no victory, brat."

"They will die." Megatron hissed, stepping closer to the teen still staring at the reassuring and accepting faces of the two older men. "Will you allow them to perish in the same ignoble manner as your Creators did?"

"My parents didn't even know what they were protecting." Sam said in a choked voice, his violet eyes staring at the red hues of the sky. "But I do. I know exactly what'll happen if I let you use me."

Stepping back, Sam gasped as he clutched at his chest as the ever-present throb there seemed to intensify with the darkening colors of the metallic tattoos marking his hands. **BUMBLEBEE!** He managed to shout across their bond, his energy falling sharply from the amount spent to do so. The pain grew stronger, its unrelenting strength battering at his senses one by one, until he lost control of the block he'd placed over his bonds. His vision darkening and his knees collapsing from beneath him, Sam's last sight was of Will and Epps struggling to break free of the grips holding them back.

DoX

"It's beautiful." Sam whispered to himself, staring in awe at the foreign landscape in front of him. Elegantly designed towers rose from the metallic looking ground, while both ground and air teemed with mechanical life. It looked like something out of the stories that Bumblebee would tell him in the middle of the night after Sam had been awoken from a particularly vivid nightmare.

"It was." A sad voice from behind the teen admitted. "Before my children began to war with one another, Cybertron was a place of peace. And as it is with everything else, artistry and elegance followed in its wake."

Turning around, Sam fell onto his behind with a startled yelp. Standing behind him was a mech taller than Optimus and Megatron _combined_ he realized with a twinge of fear. "Who—_what _are you?" Sam stuttered, scrambling backwards as quickly as he could.

"One that you have prayed to since your earliest years with your guardian." The mech responded, his amber optics observing the scene that had captivated Sam. "And one who has declared you to be one in the number of his children."

"Nice." Sam deadpanned, his eyes looking up in irritation. "Now how about we explain this in terms that even Trent could understand?"

"My designation since the day of my Creation and that of my twin has been Primus."

"Oh Primus, I have brain damage." Sam muttered under his breath, violet eyes wide with disbelief. "There's no way you're Primus."

"Why would that be youngling?" The large mech asked kneeling down to meet Sam's tired eyes questioningly. "Have I given you reason to hold distrust in what I say?"

"Oh come on!" Sam snapped in exasperation. "Bumblebee says that Cybertron started dying when the Allspark was sent into space. And since Cybertron is supposed to be the form of Primus… it stands to reason that if Cybertron died, then you would have too. Especially since I'm—" Sam cut himself off, his hands covering his mouth in horror.

"Especially since you are now the Allspark."

Sam shot to his feet and hastily ran as close to the edge of the cliff he was standing on without taking a tumble down its steep slope. His eyes narrowed and distrustful as he warily watched the enormous mech rise from his kneeling position to tower (not like he didn't already) over Sam's much smaller frame. Unexpectedly the mech's vents cycled in what Sam recognized as the Cybertronian equivalent of a sigh.

"The Sparks that became the consciousness of the Allspark dispersed after leaving behind one final gift." The mech calling himself Primus said finally, his optics looking out over the serene landscape wistfully. "Although you are now the Allspark and as such will live far longer than any of your race has even contemplated of doing… the fact remains that you are still of organic composition and as such your frame will deteriorate long before your time."

"And I would care, why?" Sam asked nonplussed at the mech's words. "I'd really rather not encourage your delusions of grandeur, but for the sake of clarification… _why_ are you telling me this?"

"The Allspark cannot coexist with one of those it holds in safe keeping." The mech stated quietly, his optics continuing their unwavering stare at the memory of Cybertron. "But a Spark that has been introduced at the same time as the Allspark can be brought to a state of coexistence."

Sam opened his mouth to make an appropriately scathing remark before snapping it closed with a nearly inaudible snap, his eyes growing distant as he mulled over the words. Long minutes passed as Sam turned to stare unseeingly at the skyline in front of him, his violet eyes fixed on an indeterminate point on the horizon. Tilting his head to the side so he could see the mech from the periphery of his vision, Sam spoke hesitantly, "That's why my chest has been hurting, isn't it?"

The mech nodded slowly, his optics coming to rest on the youth in front of him. "The Spark has been reaching an acceptable point of maturation as fueled by the last cognizant decision of the Allspark's consciousness. The discomfort is caused by the Spark's adaptation to the presence of so many immature Sparks that have yet to be realized into a container as it was shortly after its Creation."

"I—I see." Sam said shakily as he gingerly lowered himself to the metallic surface of the ground to sit turning back around as he did so.

"No, I am afraid that you do not… see." The mech seemed to stumble over the odd turn of phrase used by Sam before swiftly regaining his composure. "The fragile balance that your bond mate has held for you while your body and Spark grew into harmony with one another is being disrupted by the rather forceful reemergence of the bond you now hold by default with the Lord High Protector."

"What?" Sam shook his head in disagreement. "No. No, I would have felt it." Rubbing his right arm with the slightly chilled fingers of his left, Sam's entire demeanor radiated disbelief. "I might have been out of it last time it happened, but that isn't something you forget about."

"And how do you believe it is that I was able to pull you so far into the Matrix if you were not already in danger of having your Spark join those already here?" The mech asked gently, his optics shining something that looked an awful lot like pity Sam realized. "Even the bonds you hold with your Surrogate and your bond mate are not enough to bring back that balance that was so vital to your existence."

"Oh." Sam muttered faintly, his hand falling limply to his side from where it had been rubbing his other arm.

"You lose hope far too quickly, youngling." The mech observed in a carefully modulated tone. "I said only that your _current bonds_ cannot help you to regain that balance."

Cycling his vents again when he was met with silence, the mech knelt down in front of the stunned teen. "You so easily forget that you are now the Lifegiver to those who will one day be Created beyond the metal plates of Cybertron. The first to have ever carried that title since my only Creation did so."

"You—you were the one talking to me in Mission City the first time." Sam said numbly, his eyes lighting up with recognition of the voice and the unfamiliar address as Lifegiver instead of Allspark. "I thought—I thought it was the Allspark but it was you, wasn't it?"

"You needed confidence to bolster your flagging strength." The mech conceded. "I merely offered you what I was able to give, as well as gave my approval of what the Allspark offered to you." The mech (Primus, Sam amended in his head) paused for a moment, his head tilting to one side as if listening to something that only he could hear. "The first of your Creations are coming to your aid." He finally commented, his optics glancing down to meet Sam's confused violet gaze.

"_My_ Creations?" Sam asked with a fair amount of trepidation. "_I_ haven't Created anything."

"While you were attempting to evade the Lord High Protector and his subordinates, you stumbled and in your terror, instinctively grasped hold of the Allspark's power and Created several smaller transformers." Primus' faceplates seemed to shift into an amused smile as he spoke. "The source for their Sparks was that of the fledgling Spark that the Allspark was already in the process of crafting for you. They are being brought by the feelings of your Spark beginning to diminish and will give you the time needed to find an alternative to joining the Matrix so early."

"Creations?" Sam muttered wildly to himself, his eyes dilated with shock. "What fragging aft head decided that I needed Creations?!"

"If it alleviates your state of mind any," Primus cut in with a synthesized clearing of his vocalizer, "think of them instead as your guardians as that _is _what their initial programming was designed as by the Allspark after you used its power and it seized the opportunity to ensure your safety if you were unable to do so for yourself."

"So I've got Creations—guardians—Agh! Whatever they are." Sam growled in frustration his hands reaching up to detangle his hair and rebraid it into its familiar style. "But what you said earlier… what did you mean alternative?"

"You are the new Lifegiver; surely you realize that that you hold more than simply the ability to hold Sparks until it is their time to be returned to those that Created them."

"Of course I realize that." Sam snapped, his growing frustration evident. "What the slag does that have—Oh!"

"I shall assume by your exclamation that you have finally ascertained the only option available to you if you wish to avoid joining the Matrix?" Primus asked dryly.

"But—But…" Sam sputtered incoherently for a few moments before recovering a hold of his wits. "What will happen? I doubt that finding a way to stop the fractures is going to be simple."

"The stress upon your Spark has already forced the fractures past the point that even you can repair." Primus said wearily, his hand coming to rest gently on one of the teen's slumped shoulders. "Repairing the damage on your own would not be a long term solution and would most likely result in similar problems in the near future."

"Oh." Sam said weakly, at a loss for anything more to say that hadn't already been expressed in the way his body was currently doing. "But what," He paused for a moment to clear his throat, "what am I supposed to do?"

"Split it."

"Split it?"

"At the moment the damage is too much for a single entity to repair. Splitting your Spark would result in both halves being repaired without the possibility of a similar reoccurrence in the future."

"No other choice?"

"None."

"And what about my bond mate?" Sam asked quietly, already knowing the answer by the returning look of pity in the amber optics above him.

"The bond will be suppressed until your Spark has been healed of the damage threatening it's survival." Primus halted a moment to allow the teen time to regain his composure before continuing. "Sparks were never meant to be stressed to the point of fracture, and the bond would unfortunately create too much strain while your Spark attempts to heal itself. The only bond that will remain unsuppressed will be the one you formed with your Surrogate so for a while yet, you will remain safe from the Lord High Protector finding you."

"How much—how much time do I have?"

"If you wish to avoid entering the Matrix, then you have no more time left to you."

Sam stood, the large hand rising from his shoulder as he did so. Turning around, he stared at the impressive landscape once more before his expression hardened. "I'll find a way to bring this back." He said softly, his voice filled with a fierce determination before Primus was once again left alone in the part of the Matrix he kept flooded with his memories of a Cybertron long gone.

"If you are able to resist the Lord High Protector…" Primus replied just as softly, his eyes gazing over the distance at the city of Praxus with longing coloring his amber optics. "…then I believe that you truly will find a way to restore the world I gave the children of my Creation."

DoX

Swirls of color made up his surroundings, reminding him of the one memory he was able to hold onto after Mission City. Even with both Ratchet and Bumblebee asking him numerous times about what he could remember, he hadn't told them about the gentle and warmly beckoning colors he'd seen. It hadn't felt right to him, he reflected as he ran a hand lightly over one of the brightest colors he could see and immediately shivered from the sensation. Glancing around the colors again, he was reminded of something else.

When he listened to music he could envision the sounds as flowing tendrils of color combining together to create the harmonic frequencies heard by his ears. Bumblebee hadn't understood when he'd tried to explain it, but a few weeks before while he'd been spending some time with Jazz while both of their respective mates were on shift, Jazz had turned on some music and Sam hadn't been able to stop the comment he'd made about the colors and music. Thankfully, the mech hadn't said a word but had instead stared at Sam for a long moment before nodding sharply and the two had returned to listening to the music, only this time with their eyes closed as Sam leaned against one of Jazz's legs.

The colors that he saw rather than heard in music, Sam mused to himself, was a lot like the colors of the different Sparks that he could now see. Every Spark was different, their color determined by the individual contributions of their Creators. And like the Sparks that he was entrusted with, Sam's own Spark was reminiscent of its origins. Especially since the Spark of the Allspark's new host couldn't be anything other than neutral. So his Spark had taken on the richest purple hue that he had ever seen. It was as though the most vibrant shades of red and blue had been taken and swirled together until they formed the seamless unison that the purple offered up.

Frowning at the dark lines running over the iridescent sphere of light in front of him, Sam resumed tracing the lines with dexterous hands. Crowding around him, the immature Sparks in his care began to fluctuate their light in agitation, alternating between blinding brilliance and deafening darkness. He could feel their concern over the rapidly deteriorating condition of the amethyst colored Spark before him, each line was growing darker and darker with each passing second and the feeling of upheaval was beginning to grow overwhelming. Closing his eyes briefly when he felt a suitable point of separation, Sam hoped fervently that his bond mate would forgive him before digging his fingers in deeply and with a quick tug he was once again in darkness.

DoX

Will was worried beyond anything he'd ever thought he'd be forced to endure. It was one thing to be the one injured with your friends hovering around you anxiously, but it was another entirely to be the one watching over said injured. Sam's breathing had become shallow and labored as the minutes ticked by and he was beginning to wonder if the help he knew was coming would get there before the kid just ran out of time. The longer he spent with his eyes closed, the harder he knew it would be for Sam to fight his way back to them. Blood loss, still bleeding cuts, and a concussion were not good factors when you wanted someone to wake up. Especially not after he'd seen the strain reflected in Sam's tired eyes when the teen had first seen them being dragged behind that overgrown and outdated piece of metal that had caught them in the first place.

Looking back up from where he'd been staring down at Sam's pale face, Will watched the mechs around them in barely concealed bewilderment. At the moment the teen had begun to lose consciousness, a silver streak had darted in and after gently depositing the teen into the arms of what looked like a pair of parking meters, had attacked the mech holding both him and Epps back. The grace and fluidity of the movements were something that he'd seen only once, and that once had been when he'd seen Jazz attacking that giant tank in the center of Mission City.

Now hiding behind a hastily piled barrier of rubble, Will was watching the unknown entities defend them with what looked like everything in their tiny arsenals. Or rather, he amended to himself, they were protecting Sam. After he and Epps had been liberated from that piece of Decepticon slag, the part of his mind that had been heavily influenced by Ironhide's presence growled, they had been left behind the makeshift barrier with Sam being laid on the ground with a gentleness he wouldn't have expected. But before running back outside of the barrier, each of the mechs had looked at Will and Epps with amethyst optics that seemed to say without words that there would be hell to pay if anything more happened to Sam.

So here he was, waiting for the Autobots to arrive and hoping that their new friends and Sam could hold out long enough for that to happen. His mouth twisting into a wry smile, Will let loose a half hearted laugh as he thought about Ratchet's threats earlier that morning. "You better hang in there brat." Will said quietly, ducking his head when the topmost portion of the wall behind them exploded. "Looks like I'm gonna need to take you up on your offer of protecting me if I don't wanna end up a lab rat for the rest of my life."

DoX

Their Creator was in trouble. He had called out to them, asking for help… and so they came. All of them had gathered at the first signs of their Creator's brilliance fading, and so they had all left together when the call had finally come. For a moment he'd wondered what had taken his Creator so long to do so before he realized that his Creator had probably been unaware of their existence until that moment. It wasn't so surprising given that their Creator had collapsed in exhaustion after merging with the Allspark, and since had not had the time to delve deeper into the subconscious link he maintained with all those he had Created that day.

Sidestepping an outstretched arm, the youngest of the Creations continued to hassle the still grounded Seekers. They had all agreed that to allow the Seekers into the air would only place them at a disadvantage and could also become a threat towards their Creator's already fragile well-being. So while the rest were attempting to occupy the attentions of the other Decepticons, the youngest had been delegated with the task of keeping the Seekers on the ground. Being the smallest had its advantages in that he was also the fastest of them, so it was relatively easy to evade the Seekers while at the same time disconnecting a vital wire here or nicking a coolant line there.

It had been fifteen minutes and even if he was small, the amount of energy he was being forced to expend was taking its toll on him. Daring to glance over towards his co-Creations, he noted that they were in much the same condition as he himself was. They were made to fight yes, but more in the sense that they were Created to be the Allspark's final line of defense. Final line before the new Allspark would be forced to defend itself, or rather before his Creator would be forced to defend himself.

Ignoring the various warnings his overheating systems were sending to his processors, he slid underneath the red and white Seeker and swiftly disabled the mechs thrusters before scampering off to a safe distance again. The purple and black one was still off to the side attempting to get his warping abilities back online after he'd successfully managed to take them offline with a well-aimed large chunk of rubble to the back of the cranial unit.

Revving engines in the distance caught his attention and it was with a furious cycle of his vents that he looked up to see an unusual line of cars speeding towards them. Nodding his head at the orders from the oldest of his co-Creations, he waved cheekily at the Seeker trine before retreating to the hastily made defensive wall that he and his co-Creations had placed their Creator behind.

Cooling systems were finally allowed to begin catching up with the massive overheating spread throughout his systems, the warnings from his processor slowing to a halt as he joined his co-Creations behind the wall as the first of the unknown allies arrived. He watched in appreciation as the lead vehicle smoothly transformed into its bipedal state without taking the liberty of stopping or even slowing down before tackling the large mech that had been tormenting his Creator. Snickering when the mech yelled in outrage, the youngest Creation turned around at the distressed sound from one of his co-Creations.

Amethyst optics blinked offline before being rapidly rebooted to ascertain that he'd really seen what his processor was insisting on. His Creator's eyes were open and he was struggling to sit up, talking in an urgent whisper to the older human holding him to keep him from falling to the ground. In his Creator's hands was a vividly pulsing light, its color unlike anything that he had seen in the months since his Creation. So it was with a shock when he realized that he was looked at the Spark of his Creator, or rather one half of his Creator's Spark. And that was when everything went to the Pit he decided as he heard an enraged bellow and looked up to see a pair of yellow mechs standing side by side and staring down at his Creator in horror.

And that would be the end of this Chapter. Three whole parts, and it's finally over. I've spent the past two days in the hospital for pneumonia, otherwise this would have been out two days ago. I hope you guys like it, and more explanations are forthcoming in the subsequent chapters. Chapter Six is already started but I thought I should post this before I ended up posting the both of them at the same time. Maybe now I'll be able to get those ideas for Winds out of my head and onto paper/screen.

P.S. The thing about the colors and the music isn't something I just made up. I tend to do the same thing, which is why I think that I have so many problems writing if I don't have some sort of music in the background.


	8. Chapter 6

Experiences

Once again thanks for all of the lovely reviews everyone left me. I really hope that I get better soon too because staying in bed is going to drive me crazy if I don't get out of it soon. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys like this chapter.

Chapter Six

"So why'd you pick me?"

Startled, Sam looked up from where he'd been sitting and playing with the loose swirls of amethyst colored smoke that surrounded them. "I didn't have many other choices at the moment." He answered with a shrug as he turned back to running his hand through the amethyst colored wisps that coiled around the two of them protectively. "I could've gone with Epps, but he'd probably still be panicking."

"_I_ should still be panicking." Will muttered to himself as he continued to pace.

"I asked you if you trusted me." Sam stated, his head tilting to the side as he stared at Will. "Do you regret saying yes?"

"And what if I say yes now?"

"Then I'm sorry."

"Does none of this shit even phase you anymore?" Will exclaimed after a few moments silence, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "How can you act so fucking calm like this doesn't even bother you?"

"What's yelling and waving my hands around in the air going to do, Will?" Sam asked, standing from his cross-legged seat in one fluid movement as he walked to stand in front of the older man. "Is it gonna change anything? Is it gonna do anything other than make me seem like I'm a fraggin' idiot?"

"Are you calling me an idiot?" Will asked stunned that the teen seemed willing and actually spoiling for a fight.

"If the shoe fits…"

"Dammit Sam!" Will snarled, grabbing the teen by the front of his shirt and jerking him forward. "Not everyone can be like you and just shrug this kinda shit off! Most people actually have things they don't wanna lose."

"Is that what you think?" Sam asked violet eyes flashing dangerously as he slapped Will's hand away from him. "You think that I just _'shrug it off_'? Do you even _know_ how many times I've wished that things were different? That my parents had lived longer than they did. That I wasn't some fucked up kid who isn't even really human anymore. Or how about the fact that I wish that for just one fucking day that I could pretend to be like everyone else?"

Stepping back, chest heaving from yelling so loudly Sam turned his head to the side refusing to meet Will's eyes as he continued. "And yeah, I guess I'm not like most people who have things to lose. But that's because most everything that I could lose, I've _already_ lost."

"Sam—"

"Shut up Will." Sam bit out, his face flushed with anger. "I don't want to hear it. You think that I don't care about the things I still have to lose? You think that I don't wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare about losing it all? What do you think would have happened if I hadn't of split my Spark in half?" Sam demanded, his eyes piercing as he turned back to meet Will's gaze. "No idea? Let me tell you what would have happened. What would have happened is that my control of the Allspark would have been broken, and with Megatron being as close as he was… he would have been able to grab control of me through the bond and the Allspark as a result. And with my Spark being fractured the way it was, I would have been forced to watch everything that he forced the Allspark to do until the day that the Allspark finally ceased to exist and I would have been allowed to join my Spark in the Matrix."

"So I'm sorry if I asked too much of you." Sam trailed off into a whisper, his arms wrapping around himself. "But I wasn't strong enough. Do you know what it's like to be faced with something like that and realize that death really isn't so bad? That you could handle dying if it meant that you wouldn't ever have to face choices like that ever again?" Sam's laugh was low and held an air of fragility to it that his eyes seemed to replicate. "I would have been his pet, Will. A pet with even less free will than a fragging _goldfish_, so when I think about that and when I think about everything else… yeah it makes all of that a little easier to deal with because I remember what my alternative could have been."

DoX

"So they're twins?" Jazz asked blankly, his visor glinting as he glanced between the two berths in the med bay outside of Ratchet's office. "Jus' like Sunny n' Sides?"

"In the context that I believe you are referring to," Perceptor answered setting down the scanner he'd hastily modified only hours before, "they are the same in that they both share one half of the same Spark."

"But how is the presence of a Spark even possible, Ratchet?" Prowl asked as he drew attention towards himself. "I believe that the youngling informed us that it was impossible for a Spark to coexist alongside of the Allspark."

"And it would have been." Wheeljack answered, ignoring the dark look his bond mate was giving him. "But the Spark he and Will have is still new, almost like it belongs to a sparkling."

"What does tha' have to do with anythin'?" Jazz asked a niggling thought; or rather suspicion beginning to take root at the back of his processor. "Is it new 'cause it jus' got split or was it already new before all tha'?"

"I believe that if Ratchet were allowed to speak," Prowl interrupted, "we might be able to determine the exact facts of the matter being presented to us."

"It'll have to wait." Ironhide said from the doorway as he stepped into the already crowded office. "Optimus is callin' for you, Jazz, and Ratchet. The Secretary of Defense is here and I guess whatever he's got to say, Optimus wants us there to hear it."

DoX

"You are _not_ going to use my youngling as some sort of enlistment propaganda, Secretary Keller." Ratchet hissed venomously as he glared down at the diminutive figure that was the Secretary of Defense. "He is a child even by your own society's standards and yet you would ask this of him?"

"I'm truly sorry, but you must understand." Keller persisted in spite of the hostile glare he was being given by the Autobot medic. "The President has been advised that leaking Sam's story will be of immense value to us in our attempts to raise our military forces without the reinstatement of the draft."

"Do as you will." Ratchet said kneeling down to be at a level even with Keller. "But I will not allow you to use my youngling in any of your political games. He is in enough danger without your government adding to the predicament."

"Commander Prime, surely we can come to an accord regarding this matter." Keller asked the silent blue and red mech. "You must understand that the draft was last used for the Vietnam War and before that both World War II and World War I. People will resist the idea, which is why the President's advisors feel it more prudent to take this route regardless of how distasteful it is."

"I understand, Secretary Keller." Optimus rumbled quietly, motioning with his hand for Ironhide to pull the irate medic back to a safe distance. "But what _you_ must understand is that Sam has accepted the bond with Ratchet, which places him as his legal guardian in our eyes. And as I have already made quite clear, the youngling is within our jurisdiction especially as he does not officially exist within your government's records. If Ratchet chooses to deny you access to the boy, then there is nothing I can do for you."

"Now you need to understand that this isn't a war our people started." Keller retorted his hand waving in the air as he spoke. "They're gonna want a good reason to get involved with this. And the fact that Sam's fighting alongside of you would be good enough motivation for the majority of Earth's populace and not just the good old US of A."

"Ya talkin' 'bout th' younglin' like he's somethin' to be used." Jazz's low voice broke in before Optimus could respond. "Even if Ratch weren't 'is Creator, ain't another one of us that'd give ya permission to use 'im like tha'. It ain't right what you're tryin' to do. Is this how ya treat th' younglin's on Earth? Like they're _tools _to be used when ya need 'em and put back when you're finished? 'Cause I thought only 'Cons did things like tha'."

"That's enough, Jazz."

"He's just sayin' what all of us are thinkin' Prime." Ironhide came to the Solstice's defense as his massive hands clenched and unclenched as though longing to bring out his beloved cannons. "You can't blame him for sayin' what all of us have been wantin' to say. You know the way he is."

Turning to glance meaningfully at the silent mech standing beside him, Optimus barely suppressed the urge to rub his face plating wearily. With the exception of Prowl, the other mechs in the room looked ready to storm out after stomping on Secretary Keller a few (dozen) times, he noted. And with good reason, he thought darkly as he recalled verbatim the man's request that Sam make a formal declaration of his intentions to remain with the Autobot forces. Even going so far as to suggest that Sam officially enlist in the military, which would place him under the government's direct control.

"I truly believe it best if you leave, Secretary Keller." Prowls voice was curt and controlled, with an underlying tension just beneath the surface. "As we have already stated, the youngling in question is to remain uninvolved in the political maneuverings of your government. Any and all rights that you may have held towards him were waived the moment he was declared dead without verification of a body. You hold no ground on which to stand, Secretary."

"And nothin' I say is gonna change your mind, is that it?"

"That would be a reasonable conclusion to reach, Secretary." Prowl said his optics glittering as he stared down at the man. "As I have already stated, it would remain in your best interests to leave. Back on Cybertron femmes were not the only ones renowned for their vicious defense of the sparklings and younglings. And I fear that Ratchet will only allow himself to be contained for so long."

"Are you threatening me?" Keller asked incredulously before turning to look at the silent figure of Optimus Prime. "Is this how you treat your allies, Commander Prime?"

"It is not a threat, so much an accurate observation." Prowl said smoothly, kneeling down with one arm resting across his bent knee. "You have in a way threatened the safety of his youngling. Any Creator would be feeling the same instincts to protect their Creation with any and all means at their disposal. And I fear that even medics are not immune to that particular portion of our programming. Would you not do the same for your own Creations, Secretary?"

DoX

Lying on the berth Ratchet had confined him to, Sam flicked through various news sites on the laptop his Creator had reluctantly been persuaded into returning. Everyone it seemed was talking about the existence of the Autobots and the Decepticons. He was dismayed to note that the destruction of Mission City seemed to be of little concern to anyone other than the ones who had been displaced by said destruction. Tapping the mouse pad on his laptop, Sam brought up the latest news release detailing the tentative talk of alliance between the various world governments' and the Autobots.

"You're gonna give yourself a headache if you keep lookin' at that."

"And you're gonna get tied to that berth if Ratchet sees you out of it again." Sam replied with a smirk as he looked up to see Will standing beside his berth. "What happened to that sense of self-preservation?"

"It died on the second day." Will said with a shrug as he leaned against Sam's berth to peer over the teen's shoulder to look at the opened web page. "You still looking at that stuff? I already told you, most people don't wanna hear about how many people died when they have giant alien robots running around."

"I know that." Sam said softly, his eyes fixed on the picture and video snapped by a couple of intrepid (stupid, his mind supplied) photographers/cameramen of the final moments of the battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime. "I just hoped that maybe something would have changed."

"The war's coming, Sam." Will said, placing a hand on the distraught teen's shoulder comfortingly. "You can't hold it against them for wanting to know more about the war that we've brought into. If they're gonna fight, people are gonna wanna know _why_ they're fighting and _what_ they're fighting against."

"And the fact that we have video of Optimus kicking Megatron's aft is just a bonus for everyone?" Sam asked when the older man leaned over him to open begin playing the web video. "I can't believe it's all gone now." Sam murmured to himself, his eyes scrutinizing the remains of the city that had still been recovering from the aftermath of the first attack only a few months before.

"And next time we'll take it out of their ass." Will said solemnly as he paused the video on the clip of Megatron ordering his forces to begin retreating. "You just gotta decide if you really wanna be out on the field doing repairs, Sam. Field medics have to fight just like the soldiers if they wanna protect their patients."

"Then I guess I'll learn how to fight." Sam replied just as solemnly as he closed the web page and looked up at Will. "The Decepticons aren't going to take long to figure out where I am, even if Megatron can't sense me… but I'm not gonna stay where its safe and watch everyone else risk everything. If that means I have to learn how to aim and shoot, then that's what I'll do."

"Then we'll start as soon as Ratchet lets us out of here."

DoX

"You realize that we're so slagged if that Creator of his gets even a whiff of what we're doin'?"

"Relax Ironhide." Will said even a trace of concern absent from his voice as he watched Sam's as yet unnamed Creations correcting his stance. "If he's gonna be a medic, then he needs to know how to fight. He can't rely on those guys to bail his ass outta hot water all the time. He needs to know how to fight on his own."

"True as that may be," Ironhide grumbled, "why did you have involve me into this? I have no desire to cross that insufferable 'bot anymore than I have to."

"Ratchet yell at you again?" Will teased as he turned amused eyes on the massive black mech standing next to him on the outside of the firing range.

"It seems the only ones that crazy medic doesn't yell at, is either you or Sam." Ironhide muttered as he carefully inspected his cannons for any defects or imperfections in their glossy surfaces. "Whereas before it was just the younglin', but since you're his twin now, Ratchet seems to think that means he don't have to yell at you none."

"Nah." Will said dismissively. "He just waits until he gets us alone before he starts yelling."

Glancing something out of the corner, Will raised a hand to shade his eyes from the sun as he turned to get a better look. Face paling, he turned back to Ironhide and gestured wordlessly towards the yellow vehicle speeding in their direction from the base. Wordlessly the black mech transformed, his passenger side opening and allowing for Will to jump in before shooting forward towards the part of the firing range Sam was still in.

"Sam! Time to go!" Will yelled as they roared up to the teen still surrounded by his still admittedly clingy Creations. "Creator's coming and I don't wanna be stand around and wait for him to get here!"

"Why Will, who knew you could be so scared of a lowly medic?" Sam purred mockingly as he swung himself up into the truck after making sure that his Creations would follow behind them

"Lowly medic?" Ironhide repeated skeptically, his deep rumble filtering through the speaker system. "Anyone with a shred of common sense knows to stay the hell away from any kinda medic. Like as not, y'all know just as many ways to take a mech apart as you know to put him back together."

"Heh. Talking from personal experience there, 'Hide?"

"Hey! Less talking and more running!" Will said, twisting around in his seat to eye the yellow Hummer catching up to them.

DoX

"Ratchet!" Sam called, entering the med bay with his ever present trail of Creations following behind him. "Hey Ratchet! You still here?" Grinning when he could make out Ratchet's voice whispering urgently to someone else, Sam knocked exaggeratedly on the med bay wall as he rounded the corner of the med bay leading to Ratchet's office. "You guys better be decent." He said with laughter shaking his voice. "Wouldn't want innocent eyes to be scared for life, would we?"

"What are you talking about, Sam?" Ratchet asked with an air of feigned innocence as he emerged from his office.

"Oh come on. Like I haven't already realized that I've somehow managed to get two Surrogates instead of just one?" Sam replied his grin turning wicked when he noticed Wheeljack exiting the office as well. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't have figured it out eventually? Who do you take me for? The twins? Cause unlike them, I have no illusions about you being some ornery old mech too old to understand what being young is all about."

"Enough, youngling." Ratchet ordered, his mouth twitching at the sides from a suppressed smile. "What is it that you needed?"

"Oh." Sam said turning towards the mechs behind him and speaking to them quietly for a few moments before spinning back around as they headed back out towards the main part of the med bay. "I can't just keep calling them Creations, but I don't have a clue about what their designations should be."

"We'll think of something." Ratchet said after a moments thought, turning back around to reenter his office. "Come on; just make sure that they know not to touch any of my instruments, understood?"

DoX

Having gained permission from Optimus to do so, Sam sat on the grassy knoll of the outlook just outside of Tranquility. Alone with his Creations for the first time since they'd returned to base with him following Mission City. "Creator?" Sam glanced down to see the youngest of his Creators looking at him with a curious look in his optics. "Creator why are we here?"

"Because giving out designations isn't something that I felt comfortable with doing back at the base." Sam responded, his face tilting down to smile warmly at the surprised mech sitting near his outstretched legs. "Besides I figured that calling you Grounder sounded much better than just youngest or smallest."

"Metalclash." Sam said pointing towards the silent form of the vending machine his oldest used as an alt form.

Turning his hand to point at the largest of his Creations, the large black SUV he remembered hitting on his mad dash through Mission City the first time, Sam's mouth twitched at the memory of Will telling him about the airbag attacking the female driver. "Faststrike, since you seem to have no problems in reminding people that you're my guardian as well as Creation."

"And you two would be Smash and Crash." Sam said, finishing by pointing at the two parking meters whose spindly mech forms reminded him of Frenzy. "Maybe now that you have designations, the twins'll go back to picking fights with Cliffjumper and Gears." He muttered to himself, remembering the last incident that had ended with the twins and his Creations in the med bay along with Ratchet ranting loudly enough to be heard on the opposite end of the base.

"Our last argument had little to do with our lack of a designation." Faststrike protested loudly. "They insulted you, and as your Creations it was our obligation to defend you."

"Oh Primus." Sam groaned as he thought of Ratchet's reaction if the fights continued. "If you're going to go after every single person that's insulted me, you'll be busy from now until the end of the next century."

"If you are willing to provide with a list of names and offenses, then we can begin immediately." Metalclash stated seriously, his co-Creations nodding in agreement.

"Don't you even think about it." Sam snapped, his mind besieged by thoughts of the small group attacking Decepticons like Barricade and Starscream, their imagined war cries echoing in his ears as he flopped back onto the ground with an exasperated sigh.

DoX

"How long do you think it's been since we were able to just sneak away like this?"

"Almost five months." Bumblebee answered the teen currently lying his chest plating as the pair basked in the quiet atmosphere the rooftop gave. "And these times will only increase in their infrequency as the war progresses."

"Figured as much." Sam grumbled from his spot as he squirmed lightly to find a more comfortable position. "And tomorrow I have to start training the new volunteers that Keller sent over to be medics."

"Yes. I had heard that many of them had refused to remain as students under Ratchet after the first lesson." Bumblebee said with an air of heavy amusement clinging to him. "From what I'm given to understand, Secretary Keller pleaded with Optimus for you to be named their new instructor. Especially since you are of the same stature as the volunteers and will be able to adjust for the limited capabilities of your species on the battlefield."

"Limited capabilities?" Sam repeated, arching a brow questioningly as he tilted his head up to stare at the unrepentant yellow minibot. "I'll have you know that I managed just fine while working on your sorry aft."

"But whereas you began by working on my systems," Bumblebee hastened to clarify himself before the teen could say anything else, "they will be coming from backgrounds as mechanics of an entirely different nature."

Sam hmm'd noncommittally as he turned his attention back towards the sky, or more specifically the stars. The silence covering the rooftop was a comfortable one as both eased into an old routine of pointing out various constellations. His eyes growing heavy as Bee's hand reached up to cover him from the dropping temperature, Sam forced his eyes to stay open as he spoke. "Hey, Bee?" He called out hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Do you—I mean are you—are you upset about the bond?" Sam finally forced the words out of his throat from where they had been stuck for the past two and a half weeks. "I didn't want to. I wouldn't have done it if I'd had another choice. But he said that I didn't, so I thought that it was what I had to do. And I didn't mean to hurt you if I did, cause he said that I was gonna die if I didn't—"

"Sam." Bumblebee interrupted the babbling teen. "I will admit that at first I was upset and even hurt by your actions. But Jazz pulled me aside while you and Will were still confined to the med bay and for lack of a better way to put it… he beat some sense into me."

"What?"

"Ratchet discovered that you and Will possessed twin Sparks, and for a brief spell of time I was of the misguided opinion that you had dissolved our bond." Bumblebee admitted his optics shuttering as he spoke. "Jazz was the one who forced me to realize that you would not have severed our bond, and once I was able to confirm the presence of our bond, as muted as it was… I realized that the bond had closed in on itself as a means of protection."

"Do you really think I'd do something like that?" Sam asked quietly, his eyes hidden by the arm slung across his face. "I mean, do you _really_ think I'd just break our bond without saying something to you?"

"No, I do not." Bumblebee said heavily sitting up as he held Sam in his hand, the teen's arm sliding away from his face. "But at the time I was dealing with the overwhelming guilt of once again not being there when you had need of my assistance. I was doubting my ability to protect you and the resulting anger was transferred over to you instead of remaining where it should have. I can offer you no excuses, as I should not have allowed it to happen. I can only remain thankful that Jazz understood and was quite capable of bringing my processor back to a much more rational thought process."

"Bee, I'm not gonna leave you." Sam said as he idly traced nonsensical patterns on the yellow armor. "We're still bonded even if my half's missing at the moment. But the second it comes back… if you want to…"

"Sam?"

"I'll complete it." Sam said, biting his lip at the sensation of blood rushing to his face. "We can do it right this time. I don't want you to think that it's not something I want. Cause it is."

"Is that—is this what you truly want?" Bumblebee asked his Spark feeling like it was doing somersaults within his casing. "Once a bond has been completed it cannot be broken. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't _want_ anyone else, Bee. I was just too stupid and too chicken to admit it."

"And what of your twin?"

"What about him?" Sam asked, puzzled about the seemingly random question. "What's he got to do with us bonding when my Spark's healed?"

"Our bond will not affect his own Spark?"

"Our Sparks aren't like the one that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe have, Bee." Sam responded, relieved to know that he could answer the question. "Because our Spark was separated by me, instead of it being split at the moment of Creation. I made sure that the Spark was manipulated so that there isn't a chance of there being a problem with our bonds. The only bond that he and I share is with Ratchet and Wheeljack, and that's cause of it being a Creator bond."

"You're certain?"

"Considering that I did it? Yeah." Sam said a soft smile playing on his lips. "And I could do the same for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe if they wanted me to."

"Perhaps later you can ask them. But if I do not return you to the med bay and your Creator, Ratchet will be after me with wrench in hand. Not to mention what your pit-spawn will do." Bumblebee muttered almost as an afterthought.

"He's not that bad."

"You say that because you haven't been around him for vorns."

"Or because I actually do what he says?" Sam retorted, choosing to ignore the earlier comment about his 'pit-spawn'. "I get hurt and I stay in the med bay _quietly_ until he says its okay for me to go. The rest of you seem to think it's a contest of who can make him fritz out first."

"Do not."

"Remember the skirmish last week? The one where you were _still_ leaking energon all over the floor and you were insisting that all you needed was a good recharge?"

"Perhaps my assessment was a little off." Bumblebee conceded grudgingly when his bond mate laughed.

"Bee, you were five seconds away from stasis lock and you _think_ your assessment was only a _little_ off?" Sam said with another laugh as he swatted lightly at the hand holding him. "Primus, I think I understand why he throws things."

DoX

"Have you been here the entire night, youngling?"

Turning around to meet the quizzical stare of the Second in Command, Sam shook his head and turned back to staring aimlessly. The rooftop below seemed to vibrate with each step that the black and white mech took, the vibrations stopping once he stood beside the silent teen. Shivering against the cool night air of the desert, Sam unconsciously stepped closer to the warmth emanating from the heated metallic frame.

"He showed me Praxus." Sam whispered as he leaned trustingly against a leg. "It must have been before the war because everything was still so peaceful."

"Who showed you?"

"Can't tell you," Sam answered, "I'm still having trouble believing it and I don't wanna crash your CPU. My Creator will never let me hear the end of it if I do."

"Very well." Prowl paused for a moment before asking the question that had driven him out in search of the teen. "How much did you overhear of the discussion in the rec room?"

"Enough to know that apparently not _all_ sentient beings have the right to freedom." Sam replied bitterly, his eyes shadowed by the hair falling across his face. "I guess when you're the Allspark, all that talk about freedom is just a bunch of pretty words that don't really mean anything."

"I apologize that you were forced to listen to that."

"You were one of the ones defending me, so why should you have to apologize?"

"Because," Prowl said heavily, "I should not have had to defend you."

"Maybe." Sam said coolly his face tilting up into the light breeze. "But you can't control what someone else thinks. Ratchet knew that this would happen, and I guess that Bee and I knew it too." Hands clenching into tight fists at his side, Sam took a deep breath. "I think that we were just hoping that we were gonna be wrong."

"What they discussed _would_ keep you safe."

"Yeah, but would it be any better than what Megatron offered?" Sam asked, his violet eyes looking up to meet shocked blue optics. "Megatron would keep me as a pet, so tell me what would change if I allowed myself to be kept like they_ discussed_. Would I have feeding time? Play time? Would one of you take me out for a walk when I needed the bathroom or something?"

Down in the rec room, Jazz smiled grimly as the youngling's words washed over those still gathered. He could see the revulsion and self-loathing beginning to build in their optics at the realization that the Allspark was comparing them to the Decepticons. Shaking his head, Jazz quit broadcasting the conversation and turned to greet the medic standing behind him.

"Hey Ratch!"

"He'll be upset if he finds out that that conversation was broadcast for the entirety of the base to hear." Ratchet commented lightly, his optics hard as he stared at the chagrined mechs still loitering about. "I doubt those words were ones he wanted everyone here to know."

"Maybe." Jazz replied, his shoulders lifting into a dismissive shrug as he spoke. "But sometimes things jus' need to be said. Don' matter if it's somethin' ya ever wanted anyone else to know or not. An' th' younglin's too nice to tell this bunch of glitches what they need to be hearin'."

"Get going before you end up joining Bumblebee in the brig."

"I'm goin', I'm goin'."

Following Jazz with his optics to make sure the saboteur left, Ratchet turned his attention towards the silent and wary group in front of him. "Don't make the mistake of treating my youngling like the cube." He warned as he crossed the room to get a cube of energon. "The cube might not have had a problem with being carted around, but the youngling will. He won't allow any of you to dictate to him what or how his life should be. And neither will I."

DoX

Darting between the mechanical forms towering above him, Sam continued to make his way towards the area where the shouts for a medic were becoming hoarser by the second. His Bluetooth had been taken off and thrown some distance back when it seemed like everyone had begun having an opinion on his decision to respond to the frantic cries. "A medic's a medic." He'd argued stubbornly, feet already beginning to move away from the main cluster of trainees he'd been supervising all the while leaving instructions for his Creations/guardians to remain behind. "Medics should repair anyone regardless of what symbols are placed onto their armor."

Climbing over a broken wall, his mouth twisted into a sardonic smile at the memory of the stunned silence that had followed his statement before he heard his Creator ask, "And if that injured mech were Megatron?" Shaking his head in exasperation, Sam had replied, his voice curt and filled with anger, "I'm a medic and the Allspark. That means I'll repair _anyone_. What right do I have in saying whether they should be repaired or not when I have the means to save them?

It was at that point that he'd thrown the Bluetooth at a nearby wall in a rare display of temper, his Spark aching at the thought of those he held dear even _attempting_ to stop him from doing something that was now as natural to him as breathing. Slowing his frantic pace, Sam concentrated on opening the pocket of subspace that Wheeljack and Perceptor had taken three weeks to even make possible. The familiar worn smooth metal handle of his box fell into his hand and the teen increased his pace until he was flat out sprinting the rest of the distance. The only sign of his surprise at the mech still calling for a medic was in the brief widening of his eyes before he collected himself and allowed the box to drop to the ground as he reached up to un-sling the bag on his back.

"If you want me to treat him, you need to move back a little Starscream." He said in a voice so calm that it surprised himself. "And you might want to get Thundercracker to stand guard since none of the Autobots are too pleased with me at the moment."

"Why should I trust you?" The red and white Seeker asked, eyeing the slender teen suspicion evident in his glowing ruby optics.

"Because I treat the mech and not the faction." Sam snapped his patience at its limits as he began to search Skywarp's injured frame for a nearby data port that he could connect his laptop to. "And Primus help you if you don't out of my way right this fragging second! I'll offline you right here if that's what it takes you slaggin' stubborn jet!"

"They'll put in the brig for this, youngling or not." Starscream finally said after sending Thundercracker off to keep an optic on the still raging battle.

"If that's what they feel they have to do, then they can slaggin' well do it." Sam replied dismissively, climbing up onto the purple and black Seeker's frame. "You called for a medic and last I checked I was still a medic so I came. Healers on our world take vows to treat _anyone_ and I happen to like that idea."

Taken aback by the human youth's unrelenting stance, Starscream stepped back a bit more to observe the youngling at work. Small as he was, the teen seemed to have no problem with accelerating the repair process as much as he capable of doing without affecting the quality of the repairs being completed. "They're coming." He announced softly, his shrill tone nearly absent as he felt Thundercracker's warning pulse down the bond that all Seeker trines shared with one another.

"Almost done." Sam replied, his arm reaching up to wipe his forehead as he climbed down from the jet's frame. "I've done enough that you'll be able to get him back to one of your own medics. Just take him and get out of here. I'll try to give you as much time as I can."

"We do not require your assistance, human."

"No." Sam said darting up to meet the jet's red optics as he continued to clean off his tools and replace them into their places within the metal box. "No, you don't. But I'm still giving it to you. So stop being a stubborn glitch and get him out of here. He needs more repairs than I could give him here on the field and every minute that you stand here arguing with me places his Spark closer to the Matrix and Primus."

Assessing the youth for a long moment, Starscream nodded his head in a curt movement before moving towards his wing mate. Thundercracker appeared on Skywarp's other side and together the two jets gently lifted the offlined form of their wing mate and made motion to take to the sky before Starscream paused for a moment his words nearly lost in the noise of their thrusters. "The Decepticon cause and Leader that we now serve is not the one that we swore allegiance to."

"I know." Sam whispered softly, his eyes downcast and an inexplicable sense of heaviness weighing on his Spark as he turned to face the accusing optics of those he considered to be friends if not family.

It's amazing what being confined to your bed does for your writing. Especially when you're only able to sleep a couple of hours at a time. Actually lost count of the amount of rewrites before I realized that this part was coming up a lot sooner than I'd planned for. Next couple of chapters are going to start tying the loose ends together and things that haven't made sense to anyone but me will make sense at the end of this arc which will be in about three or four more chapters. And I swear that the timeline will begin to get clearer by the end of the next couple chapters.

Next Chapter: Sam faces a painful choice, and the realization that every fairy tale has to come to an end whether it's a happy one or not.


	9. Chapter 7

Experiences

My mother read this chapter for me, and seems to have come to the conclusion that I am evil. 'I can't believe you're tormenting the poor boy like that.' I prefer not to think of it as tormenting, but rather as building his character because things aren't going to get any easier anytime soon. I also want to thank all of my lovely reviewers, and I swear that one of these chapters will eventually have responses in them… just as soon as I remember to do it. But then again, my family says that I'm already the absent minded scientist personified. Read and enjoy!

Sliding back as far as he was able, Sam drew his knees close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them before burying his head in his arms. In the hours that had passed since he'd been escorted down by a reluctant Prowl, his head swam with the remembered looks of accusation and disbelief that he'd been greeted with by everyone. Even, he reflected sadly, his Creators and bond mate had been a part of the crowd that had been gathered outside of the base waiting for his return. Becoming trapped in his own mind, Sam lost all track of time and even of his surroundings, until the cell door was opened with a curse and the sounds of rushing footsteps jarred him back into reality.

"Will?"

DoX

"This has gone on for far too long." Metalclash hissed as he paced the length of the med bay, his purple optics reflecting the depths of his disapproval. "We have listened to his wishes and allowed for this treatment to continue for far longer than should ever have been allowed."

"But it was his choice." Grounder argued, his clawed hands running soothingly through Sam's unbraided hair as he sat perched on the edge of the teen's berth. "We hold no right to attempt to tell our Creator what his actions should or should not be."

"And now as befitting his stature, he is beginning to embrace the position of neutrality that has always been held by the Allspark."

"And it's slowly becoming more prominent as time passes with his growing more accustomed to the demanding needs of the immature Sparks." Crash finished Smash's statement before turning to look curiously at the silent frame of his co-Creation. "Faststrike, what do you think? You've been really quiet over there for quite some time."

"I think that the Autobots have been proven incapable of protecting our Creator's innocence and neutrality." Faststrike all but growled as his heavy gaze landed on each of his co-Creations in turn. "He needs time to grow into his responsibilities. Time that the Autobots seem unwilling to provide."

"And without that time, it's going to become too much, if it hasn't already." Grounder whispered before his vocalizer shorted out and crackling static covered the remainder of his words.

"So," Metalclash's voice was solemn as his purple optics softened at the sight of their Creator sleeping peacefully, "what are we going to do?"

"We're going to get him out of here," Faststrike responded grimly, "before the damage from their idiotic preconceptions is too much to repair. We'll have to ensure his protection in the manner that the Lord High Protector was meant to."

DoX

"You're running." Will stated flatly as he stood in the doorway of the teen's assigned room at the Autobot base, his arms crossed over his chest. Outside the room stood all five of Sam's Creations, their weapons out and aimed at any mech attempting to enter the room.

"Sometimes running is all you can do." Sam answered softly, his hands stilling for a moment in their motions of placing his few belongings into the blue bag lying open on the bed. "And right now I don't have much of a choice."

"You could tell them no."

"I could," Sam looked up at Will as he closed his bag, "but I won't."

"Then I won't stand in your way." Will said after a few moments thought, his arms dropping with a sigh. "Just stay safe and stay the hell away from Megatron."

"Thanks." Sam sighed, his eyes darting down to stare at the ground as he continued speaking. "I know why you didn't go with them this morning. Thanks for not telling them."

"You know," Will said lightly, "for someone who asked if I trusted him, you keep on forgetting that I said yes. 'Sides I can feel that no matter what I tell you, it isn't going to change your mind."

"I'm not going anywhere that you won't be able to find me Will."

"And what about Bumblebee and Ratchet, you just going to leave without saying anything?" Will asked, moving so that he was blocking the doorway. "They care for you Sam—"

"Yeah, and the first time that I do something that they don't agree with they fall into line with everyone else about 'what the Allspark should be'." Sam retorted wishing for a moment that he could close the bond between himself and Will, if for anything to just stop the older man from knowing _exactly_ what he was feeling and why. "Each Allspark has been different. And I need time to grow into the Allspark that I feel is right, but I can't do that by staying here. Everyone has too many ideas about what that 'right' is, even my Creations do… but they'll at least give me the courtesy of seeing me instead of their image of me."

"Sam, they don't—"

"You fragging well know they do!" Sam yelled in exasperation with his twin, throwing his bag against the wall. "Bumblebee's beginning to understand what being bonded to the Allspark means, and Ratchet… Ratchet's starting to remember that my ideals aren't too different than what his were at the beginning of the war."

"So where are you going to go then?" Will asked, crossing the room to pick up the discarded bag. "Youdon't have a clue what its like to live around humans anymore. All you really know is big, temperamental, trigger-happy robots."

Sam shook his head, grinning at the older man's attempts to make him laugh. "Keller offered me a position on a base up North. Somewhere in Oregon I think."

"Keller?" Will asked in disbelief. "And what's he asking for? Your liver?"

"Nothing that bad."

"What did he ask for, Sam?" Will asked cautiously feeling the teen's hesitance.

"The next seven years of my life and a press release detailing my formative years." Sam admitted sheepishly, flinching when he felt the overwhelming anger leaking from Will. "I didn't really have many other choices, Will."

"So you just—" Will held up his hand to silence Sam when the teen opened his mouth to speak. "Ah! Let me finish. You just signed away the next _seven_ years of your life and tell me that it's not _that __**bad**_?"

"And I'll only really have six of those years to give, Will." Sam managed to make himself heard over Will's ranting, the man pausing to stare at him suspiciously. "Our Spark will be healed in six years time, and once that has occurred I will be forced to begin making preparations in the all too likely event that he senses the bond reemerging from its dormant state."

"So what kinda preparations are we talking about, Sam?"

"Keller has it already notated and sealed that in six years I'm to be transferred to the base still under construction." Sam answered, his hands reaching out to take the bag from Will's lax hold. "I'll be close by when the time comes."

"You know," Will joked his arm slinging around the other's shoulders, "you make it sound like you're about to give birth or something."

"Will!"

Standing outside the room with their weapons still pointed menacingly at the mechs surrounding them, the quintet exchanged relieved glances at the clear, light laughter of their Creator echoing from the room. Letting in their Creator's co-Creation, Faststrike mused as he powered his weapons in a clear threat, was a good decision. It had been entirely too long since they had heard him relax for a long enough period of time to find amusement enough to laugh. 

DoX

Three Years Later:

"Creator, please tell me you are not going to meet with those arrogant fliers again." Grounder whined as Sam pulled his now shoulder length hair into a neat ponytail that rested at the nape of his neck. "This is the third time this week that you have gone to meet with them."

"I'll only be gone a few hours, Faststrike." Sam said, ignoring Grounder's more vocal protests. "Keep an eye on things while I'm gone?"

"Of course." Faststrike responded, his purple optics following the young man as he walked out of the barracks that had been given to them upon arrival. Keller had kept his word and no records of either Sam or his Creations were kept on anything other than paper documents that were so top secret that many on base had voiced concerns as to their veracity. But, he thought to himself as he watched Smash and Crash tackle the still petulant Grounder, his Creator was no longer the confused teen that had been the new Allspark. To look at him now, there was no longer any doubt that the confident young man was the Allspark. His hesitance to defend himself was long gone, and even with his newfound ability to use a weapon, there was still an air of innocence about him that all but shone brightly like a beacon.

Starting the car given to him shortly after his arrival, Sam wondered why Starscream had sent a message for a meeting tonight. The Seeker trine surprisingly enough were the only mechs he was still in contact with, other than his own Creations and Prowl. He still had no clue as to how the red and white Seeker had managed to find him when no one else had, but like a lot of other things he'd just shrugged it off and accepted it. After he'd been surprised during one of his nightly jaunts, the quartet had begun to make a habit of meeting together at least once a week to discuss random things. The war seldom, if ever got introduced into their discussions all of them preferring to ignore that their actions would probably constitute as treason.

Pulling into the small clearing near Mount St. Hilary, Sam's mouth tightened into a grim line as he noticed Starscream being supported by Thundercracker and Skywarp. "Well, that explains why you called the meeting." Sam said by way of greeting as he pulled his medical kit out of subspace and motioning for the two Seekers to rest Starscream against a nearby tree.

"Tell me… why you left… the Autobots." Starscream wheezed through his nearly crushed vocal capacitor.

"What?" Sam's head snapped up from where he'd been inspecting the damage near the Seeker's Spark casing, only to notice the interested look in the optics of the other two standing nearby. "Why—Why do you want to know?"

"He wants to know what would compel you to leave behind the safety of your Creator and your bond mate." Thundercracker clarified, his arms crossed as he leaned against another tree with Skywarp leaning into him. "And I must admit that I find myself curious as well."

"Because I'm the Allspark." Sam said heavily, his hands tugging away the dented and charred pieces metal that was once chest plating and tossing them behind him. "Unless I'm forced to defend myself, I'll remain as neutral as I possibly can."

"Gotta be somethin' more to it than that." Skywarp piped up from where he and Thundercracker were busy pounding out the numerous dents in the discarded armor.

"A lot of my reasons for leaving had to do with the fact that I wasn't adjusting to my new life." Sam admitted quietly as he clamped one of the energon lines feeding the Spark casing. "I don't regret forming the bond with my Creator, but we needed more time to cement our bond. And with Bumblebee, our bond was always under threat of some kind and I think that the stress of it was just too much for the both of us to deal with."

"We spent nine years together, and it was just the two of us. Then out of nowhere, I've become the Allspark and we're waiting for more Autobots to arrive." Sam continued talking as he meticulously repaired Starscream's damages. "I'd changed in so many ways that sometimes I was amazed I even knew who I was. And when Ratchet offered to become my Creator, I took the chance I had to finally regain even a little piece of what I had lost."

"Young—youngling." Starscream forced the word passed his vocalizer, a look of frustration building in his optics as he tried to speak. "Not… know better."

Sam shook his head as he carefully and patiently sealed another leak in one of the energon lines feeding into the Spark casing. "It wasn't that. We were happy, we really were. I got to remember some of the happiness and peace that I hadn't felt since my sparkling years and Ratchet gained the Creation he thought he would never have after Wheeljack's Spark was damaged in an accident a few vorns back. It's just that wars don't care if your happiness if only of glass like quality before it smashes into it. And I guess that we just weren't having any luck in picking up the pieces without cutting ourselves."

"That still is not a sufficient explanation for your decision to leave them, Spike."

"I think I knew what was going to happen during Mission City." Sam whispered so softly that all three mechs had to strain their audios to hear him. "The day they saw me split my Spark and they just stared at me like I—like I wasn't even me anymore. I don't know what happened after that because I offlined alongside of my new twin, and Epps refused to tell either of us what was discussed after we offlined." Smearing a line of energon across his forehead as he swiped ineffectually at the sweat beading there, he sighed again before continuing on. "If it weren't for Will, and my Creations I probably wouldn't have gotten through the next orn by myself. Ratchet only talked to me when necessary and Bumblebee didn't enter the med bay to visit until the day before Will and I were released."

"They abandoned you?" Thundercracker's voice was sharp and held an undertone of incredulity to it as the blue Seeker spoke. "Your Creator and bond mate cast you aside for actions that should have been expected from the Allspark?"

"I don't know." Sam said, his arms straining as he tugged ineffectually on a rather stubborn relay that seemed intent on remaining fused with Starscream. "I think something happened because it was like they suddenly woke up and things were back to normal. And then about two orns before that battle, it was like everything that could go to the Pit did so."

"I went to the rec room to get Ratchet some energon and I walked in on a _discussion_ about what measures were necessary to protect the Allspark." Sam's mouth twisted into a bitter smile as his amethyst colored eyes turned cold at the memory. "Most of the Autobots, even some that I'd considered myself on good terms with were arguing that I shouldn't be allowed out of the base. That it was too dangerous, not to mention foolish to risk the safety of the Allspark to pacify the whims of an immature organic youngling. Didn't matter that I still don't fit it quite right with the majority of those that I was once a part of, because to them the stigma of being born an organic along with the fact that I was still a youngling was like an outright insult to the revered image of what the Allspark was."

"And you wonder why I say that you should join up with us, Spike." Skywarp commented as he concentrated on the other bits of armor that Sam had thrown to the side. "It don't matter to us that you're organic cause you're still the Allspark. And like Screamer says, its not like you'll be able to stay organic for a lot longer if you're already able to use energon."

"Shut up, Skywarp." Thundercracker hissed, throwing a loose bolt on the ground at the purple and black Seeker. Grinning in mock amusement when the jet seemed to begin pouting and rubbing his helm where the bolt had made contact.

"I probably would have left then, if I hadn't heard Prowl of all mechs actually yelling at the lot of them." Sam said, rolling his eyes at the pair's antics. "But my Creations told me that when Prowl went off looking for me, Jazz stuck a receiver on him that allowed him to broadcast our conversation to the entirety of the rec room. So for the remainder of the time I spent there before the battle, everyone was too ashamed of what I'd compared them to for there to be any real problems."

"Were you thrown into the brig for helping Skywarp?" Starscream asked, thankful that his vocalizer had been repaired enough for him to ask. "I did warn you that your actions could be enough to land you there, soft Sparked fools or not."

"No," Sam shook his head as he jumped down from Starscream's frame to the ground, "I got thrown in the brig for attacking an Autobot."

(Ooohhh… temptation is a wicked, wicked thing. And she begs me to leave this here, but I'm actually kinda afraid of sharp and pointy objects.)

"What?"

Wincing at the echoing shriek of the Seeker trine, Sam glared at them before pulling his hands away from his ears and replying, "You guys weren't out of range when they found me. Ironhide was going to use his cannons and I promised I'd give you the time you needed to get out." Wiping his hands off on a rag he'd pulled out his box, Sam turned to face the three incredulous faces of the Seekers. "So I jumped out of Ratchet's hand, sprained my ankle by the way, and knocked Ironhide's balance stabilizers off-kilter before he could get a shot off. Earned me an entire orn in the brig, but I only spent about a week in there before Will started raising about three different kinds of hell and got me put into the med bay."

"Why?"

Looking up to see Starscream standing between his wing mates with his arms crossed and an expression of utter curiosity reflecting brightly in his optics, Sam winced before responding. "They weren't—I wasn't exactly welcomed back to base with open arms." He muttered, replacing his tools back into the medical kit with a bit more force than was necessary. "When Prowl took me to the brig I could hear them calling me a traitor, and I heard them saying that I was going to defect to Megatron if something wasn't done about me."

"Those complete and utter fools!" Starscream shrieked, his wings trembling with rage as he knelt down in front of the silent youth. "Did not one of those glitch-ridden idiots defend you?"

"Except for maybe Prowl?" Sam asked, his head shaking sadly. "No. The only ones that would even talk to me were him and my Creations. Everyone else just ignored me or made comments about how my actions were going to doom everyone instead of helping."

"But—But you're the Allspark." Thundercracker sputtered in shock. "Didn't it occur to them that the Allspark's neutrality would only be magnified in a being capable of independent thought and movement?"

"Wow, I'm amazed you could string together something so impressive." Sam teased the blue jet. "Starscream beginning to rub off on you?"

Opening his mouth to retort, Thundercracker paused when Starscream's head tilted to the side and the look in his optics turned sour. "Megatron wishes for us to report." The red and white Seeker stated curtly, his hands curling into fists at his side. "If we wish to preserve our illusion of going out while the pair of you help my internal repair systems, then we had best leave now before we give him reason to suspect that we are doing something else."

Subspacing his medical kit, Sam stepped back towards his car as the Seekers followed behind him. Stopping suddenly in widest part of the clearing, which was only wide enough for one of them to transform at a time, Sam placed a hand on Starscream's leg as it passed. Feeling the light touch, the Seeker halted long enough to peer down at the shadowed figure near his feet, lightly glowing amethyst eyes looking up to meet his own red opticed gaze.

"Don't give him a reason to beat you Starscream." The youth uttered quietly, his eyes gleaming with what looked suspiciously like concern. "He nearly sent your Spark to the Matrix this time, and I worry that the next time I won't be able to stop that from becoming reality."

DoX

"Maggie says she mighta found us a lead on th' younglin'."

Turning to glance at the visored mech standing behind him, Prowl nodded in acknowledgement before returning to staring at the red and orange hues stretching into the deepening blueness of the sky as the sun began to set. "Ain't ya happy? This is the firs' lead we've had in _orns_." Jazz persisted, his bond mate's refusal to talk bothering him.

"And if you find him," Prowl began, "what will you do? Do you think he will agree to return to the place that brought him only grief in the short time that he was in residence?"

"Wha?" Jazz asked, stunned at Prowl's response. "Wha' do ya mean 'brought 'im only grief'?"

"I mean," Prowl said, his tone clipped as he enunciated each word clearly, "that he was so unhappy that he felt his only alternative was to seek sanctuary elsewhere."

Ignoring the fact that they were standing at the entrance leading into the base, Prowl spun around to meet his mate's dumbfounded gaze. "He was a _youngling_, Jazz." The tactician ground out through gritted derma plates. "He was a youngling and instead we all chose to ignore that in favor of seeing the situation that he had been thrust into. We _chose_ to see only the Allspark, and not the youngling that was more frightened and confused than any of us ever were."

"Wha' are ya talkin' 'bout?" Jazz demanded, his hand rising to point at the black and white mech in front of him. "Of course we saw 'im as a younglin'. I don't know where the frag ya gettin' this idea of any o' us seein' 'im as jus' th' Allspark."

"Do you realize that in his last three orns of residence here that I spoke with him for a greater length of time in just _one day_ than his own Creators or bond mate?" Prowl asked, his optics lit up in a rare show of fury. "Everyone was too concerned about their own reactions to the abilities that he was beginning to grow into, to see that he was just as alarmed and scared as they were. And we left him to deal with those feelings on his own, Jazz. And you wonder why he left, and why I question his willingness to come back?"

"Don't ya go talkin' like we never did nothin' for 'im! Cause we did!" Jazz retorted heatedly, ignoring the curious mechs that were beginning to gather around them, drawn by the increasing volume of the argument. "But some of th' things he did like helpin' the 'Cons escape jus' weren't right, Prowl!"

"Primus!" Prowl's accompanying laugh grated against the audios of those gathered with its hollow tones. "What he did was only logical considering that he is the first Spark bearing manifestation of the Allspark that any of Cybertronian origin have ever seen. Even the first Allspark held a position of neutrality amongst her first Creations, so how in Primus' name could we have expected any differently of the youngling?"

"He was protectin' a 'Con and took out 'Hide after repairin' th' Seeker against orders!"

"Orders?" Prowl's voice was now silky smooth as he moved close enough that his chassis brushed against that of Jazz. "There were no orders given that he was under any obligation to fulfill, Jazz. He was not a member of the Autobots, nor did he bear our symbol proclaiming his allegiance. He was a youngling entrusted with the fate of our _entire_ race and we condemned him for it. Tell me, how often did you check on his well-being after he was sent to the brig?"

"I—I…"

"You did not do anything for him." Prowl said frigidly, his optics still burning in their intensity as he stared at his mate. "For that one moment in time, it was convenient for you to forget that he was the Allspark. And instead you chose to perceive his actions as those of a traitorous youngling. Do you know how often I found him in the cell crying to any who would hear that he was not a traitor? That he was simply acting to protect a Spark that held no faction stamped across its very essence? Well do you?"

"That's enough, Prowl."

The tactician's expression was stormy as he glanced down to see the twin of the youngling in question staring up at him with impassive eyes. "If they haven't figured out by now why he ran, then they don't deserve to know." Will said, his own gaze colder than the Antarctic as he stared down the assembled Autobots. "Besides, he's happy now. And doin' a hell of a lot better than he was here."

Stepping back from his bond mate Prowl wordlessly transformed, the passenger side door of his alt mode opening in a clear invitation toward the human. "He'll come back when he's ready." Will said quietly as he entered the police car and closed the door.

I can't believe that I'm going to post two chapters at the same time, but maybe its for the best. Especially as this chapter should start answering a lot of questions that I'm sure the last couple have left unanswered. Next chapter will explain a bit more of the Autobots view of things and maybe a little bit better explanation about Starscream and co.


	10. Chapter 8

Experiences

Once again, I am twisting certain things to suit my purpose. But I'm actually being kinda nice to Sam in this chapter… must be the writer's block still affecting me. I'm really sorry that this took over a month to get out, but getting over pneumonia going to school going back to work me too exhausted to think of anything other than going to bed. I can only say that I hope I never take this long with another chapter again. I don't particularly like it, but it _was_ the only version of this chapter that I've actually been able to look over more than once and stay firm in the decision that it is Chapter Eight.So read… enjoy… and the next chapter should be out soon… I think…

DoX

"Lord Megatron would like to _reward_ you for the services you have so generously provided to us." The red and white Seeker spat the words as though they held a particularly potent poison that he was eager to rid himself of. "However, the fact remains that you betrayed have someone that we've been protecting for quite some time now."

"And most unfortunately for you," the blue Seeker's voice was silky smooth as red optics glared down at the dark haired man. "The one we were protecting is of infinite more value to us than your own worthless existence."

"Cause you see he's like what you stupid squishies call a little brother to us, not to mention that he's the only hope our race has." The purple and black Seeker spoke up, leaning down to push the man into the dirt with one finger.

"Or rather what my wing mates are attempting to explain is that you have in essence become lower than an Autobot within our optics." The first Seeker spoke up again, his mouth curving into a vicious grin at the light of comprehension consuming the frightened eyes of the human lying in the dirt. "You know, I've always wondered what the stress limit is for a live specimen undergoing dissection. Shall we test it?"

Two hours later:

"You did not have to join us in this excursion, Skywarp."

"Especially since Lord Megatron isn't going to be very happy that we effectively terminated his only spy in the human's military." Thundercracker added as he joined Starscream in plunging his hands into the icy water of the nearby lake. "Starscream and I could have—."

"He threatened Spike." Skywarp interrupted indignantly as he leaned against a tree with his arms crossed. "He's just too— that human had no right betraying him like he did."

"He's a bit of light in a place where we've known only darkness." Starscream said heavily as he shook his hands dry. "Innocence from a Spark that's seen the darkness at its cruelest."

"Waxing poetic, Starscream?" Thundercracker teased with a small smirk on his face as he nudged the other Seeker in the side with his elbow. "But still Lord Megatron is going to be fragged off that we just killed the organic."

"If you cannot handle the punishment then you should not have followed me." Starscream sneered as his hand rose up to hit the other's helm in retaliation for the teasing. "The organic tendered an insult to one of our own and we reacted accordingly. Should Megatron question the whereabouts of his little spy then we shall simply tell him that the organic was too cowardly to meet with us."

"You want us to lie to Lord Megatron?"

"No," Starscream replied as he transformed into his jet form. "I will lie and you and Thundercracker will remain silent on what you know."

"What about Soundwave?" Thundercracker asked as he and Skywarp transformed as well. "You know that Lord Megatron will insist on Soundwave searching for any sign of a lie being given during your report."

"Soundwave can search all he likes." Starscream answered dismissively as he took to the air with his wing mates close behind him. "Soundwave will find only what I want him to find. Megatron need never know the truth."

DoX

"Did all of your Primus forsaken, glitch ridden, microscopic processors decide to take a leave of absence without having the decency to inform me of this absolutely _brilliant_ decision beforehand?" Sam asked with barely controlled anger as he stared in disbelief at the three Seekers standing in the middle of the clearing. "Star I expect this slag from, but _you_ TC? I thought you were supposed to be the level headed, _responsible_ one for Primus' sake. Just—just set 'Warp on the ground. And Primus help him if he's done anything to mess with that slaggin' hydraulic actuator again."

Grumbling under his breath as he pulled his medical kit from subspace, Sam continued to glower darkly at the three subdued jets. "So," he said almost conversationally the harsh undertones causing the three to wince, "care to tell me how the three of you ended up so slagged? Or maybe you can explain just why in all the fraggin' Pits, 'Warp looks like he met up with the business end of a fusion cannon?"

"Megatron sent us to meet with an organic traitor seeking to reveal the location of the Allspark in exchange for his personal safety once this war has reached its inevitable conclusion." Starscream said bluntly with a nearly inaudible cycle of his vents before speaking. "Once we discerned that his information was accurate, we disposed of him in an expedient manner before carefully erasing all evidence of his information in regards to the Allspark's current location. Soundwave learned that we had disposed of the organic traitor and exposed us to Megatron."

"Are you out of your fraggin' minds?" Sam hissed as his head snapped up from where he'd been inspecting the fine cracks lacing Skywarp's cockpit. "What the hell were the three of you thinking?_ Were_ you thinking?"

"You know we're not like the Autodolts, Spike." Skywarp spoke up as the violet gaze turned to him. "And 'sides, even a Decepticon's got honor enough not to turn traitor like that."

"You do realize," Sam retorted dryly, "that Star does go traitor at least once a month when he comes up with his latest plan to overthrow Megatron, right?"

"It is not the same." Thundercracker protested as he sat down after helping Starscream to do the same. "We are Decepticons so it is to be expected that Megatron's reign will end because of an action such as Starscream's. Only the strongest is fit to remain leader of our faction. But the _organic_," Thundercracker sneered, "chose to betray you simply because he was close to being discovered as a spy for the past two meta-cycles. He was intending to use your enslavement as a means to procure his own freedom."

Stunned Sam opened his mouth to speak only to close it again with a apologetic quirk to his lips as he turned his attention back to the mech he was working on. A calm silence fell over the small clearing as Sam worked to repair the damage caused to Skywarp's frame. Thundercracker and Starscream were almost into the peaceful state of recharge when Sam's outraged shriek broke the calm. "What the slag did I tell you about that fraggin' hydraulic actuator, 'Warp!"

"Um… not to break it?"

DoX

"How long do you plan on allowing this to continue?"

Standing from where he'd been lying down in the sweet smelling grass overlooking the river where he'd spent time with Bumblebee during one of the few times they weren't being chased, Sam turned to meet the amber optics of the mech behind him. "Last time I was almost dead because of my Spark fractures." He said raising an eyebrow questioningly. "So if I'm still asleep as far as I know, then how the frag did you manage to bring me into the Matrix this time?"

"Cybertron is beginning to revive itself." Primus said simply, massive arms crossing as he inspected the small cliff they were standing on. "And this portion of the Matrix has also begun to revive itself alongside of Cybertron as the power of the Allspark begins to settle."

"You're never going to give me a straight answer, are you?"

"You are not ready for the answers you believe yourself to be searching for." The mech replied, his optics somber as they flitted over the slender form. "But I brought you here for another matter that I feel must be resolved before your stubborn resolve weakens the bonds you so carefully and painstakingly began to cultivate."

"What?"

"How long do you intend for this separation from your Creators and bond mate to continue?" Primus clarified satisfied when comprehension dawned in violet eyes. "Allspark or not, you are still a youngling very much in need of the bonds that a Creation unit offers."

"Ratchet only offered the bond because I was the Allspark." Sam spat the words bitterly, his arms wrapping around himself as he turned back to look at the slow moving river. "And then he found out what being my Creator meant and got scared."

"A response that would have been natural in any sentient being with the common sense to realize that they should." Primus countered, the ground shaking beneath him as he moved to stand beside the sullen youth. "But you erred in that you gave them no time to recover from their initial reactions. Instead you convinced yourself that running was in the best interests of everyone, and that staying away for three meta-cycles was even more of a necessity. And while initially it may have given you the time you needed to grow into your own, what excuses have you at the ready for choosing to remain away far past the time necessary?"

"I ran because they all wanted me to be something that I wasn't and still aren't." Sam hissed, continuing to stare stubbornly at the river. "Everyone knows that the Allspark is supposed to be neutral and they wanted me to choose a side."

"And who says that you are prohibited from being allowed to choose where your loyalties will lie?"

"What?" Sam spun around, his mouth gaping open in his shock. "What do you mean who says I can't?"

"You choose for yourself where your loyalties lie." Primus repeated himself, golden optics peering down to meet stunned violet. "While neutrality was my Creation's choice, it does not have to be yours. Your Spark is free to choose what it will."

"Bu—but what about the Allspark?" Sam sputtered, his hands waving in the air as he spoke. "I thought neutrality was for the benefit of the immature Sparks."

"The Sparks you hold safe are content to remain with you in a manner I have not seen since the first Lifegiver. However, the choice of your choice of allegiance is yours and yours alone. They are no more bound by your choice then you are bound by those of the Allspark before you."

"So you brought me here to tell me that you think I should go back home?"

"If you still subconsciously think of the place where your Creators and bond mate reside in as home," Primus replied, "then I believe it in your best interests to return."

Lost in thought, Sam nodded absently as he turned to stare at the grass blowing gently in the wind. Standing watch over the thoughtful teen, golden optics softened when the teen disappeared and the mech was left alone in the peaceful memory. "I had truly hoped that the vorn would never come where Chaos would reign over Order. May your Creation unit give you the strength you will need to restrain that force, Lifegiver."

DoX

"—under no circumstances should you force a patient into stasis lock if their energon levels are any lower than 45. Should you for any reason feel compelled to ignore my instructions then I'll only give you this one piece of advice. Run. Run as far away as you can possibly go because there is no way I'll tolerate such fraggin' idiocy from any student that I've personally taught."

Violet eyes stared menacingly at the assorted group of medic hopefuls seated in the small lecture hall being used for the physiology classes and basic first aid. "You were accepted into this program because it was felt that you met certain requirements needed to become a medic. And while it's pretty much a guarantee that you will lose at least one patient no matter your level of skill, the fact remains that there should be _no_ slaggin' reason to lose a patient due to complete and utter incompetence!"

"Now," he said as he picked up an eraser from the chalkboard and threw it at his sniggering Creation in the corner. "The reason that it's imperative you avoid stasis lock when energon levels have dropped below 45 is because of the imminent threat to the Spark if the leaks aren't found in time. I say leaks as in the plural form of leak, because if you have levels below 45 I can almost guarantee you that you have emergency shut off protocols that were too severely damaged to initiate."

"I have a question, sir."

"What is it, Martinez?" Sam asked with a sigh as he glanced over at what must have been karmic retribution for every prank or sarcastic remark made in his lifetime.

"How do you know that there's been a malfunction with the automatic shut offs?" Martinez asked his brown eyes narrowed as he spoke. "Isn't there a possibility that it could be something else causing the energon to go under 45?"

"Unless your patient has one hell of a wound that better have been caused by Megatron's fusion cannon, you'd better be checking for internal leaks somewhere within the frame." Sam snapped, wishing for a brief moment that he hadn't thrown the eraser at Grounder but had instead kept it for Martinez's irritating lapses into stupidity. "Any visible wound that's leaking energon fast enough to empty the reserves below 45 and you're going to end up triaging the mech in question as a Priority One. Fuel line leaks are generally slow, which is _why_ they're so easy to repair unless there's a problem with the automatic shut offs which would account for levels dropping below your 45 line. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now fuel leaks are why it's so essential that you protect your laptops with your lives. Unlike the Autobot medics, we aren't able to uplink with our patients in the same manner that they themselves are capable of which is where the laptops come into play." Sam said, opening his laptop that he'd placed on the desk prior to the start of class. "The programs loaded onto each laptop have been tested in field conditions so there aren't a whole lot of variances that haven't already been accounted for. A general systems check will be the best scan to run if you're concerned about the possibility of internal damage. Any and all leaks will be accounted for along with their tube designation and section number."

"Sir? How are the tubes given a number designation?"

"Each tube is given an individual designation that is particular to each mech type." Sam responded as he closed his laptop. "Before you're sent to the Autobot CMO for your final evaluations, you _will_ be expected to memorize the different types and the variances that can be expected with the differences in each form."

"Now back to our original topic. Stasis lock can be brought online in one of three ways. But the only one _you_ need to concentrate on is if stasis lock is initiated due to the severity of the mech's injuries or because of energon deprivation settling into the core systems." Sam said as he held up a small stack of papers in his hands and began handing them out. "If stasis lock has been initiated for that reason then you'll know the second your systems check finishes. Each of the separate warnings that your systems check can display are listed on the paper that I'm giving you. I do expect you to have all of these warnings memorized by next Monday morning. No excuses as to why you _haven't_ had these memorized."

"What sort of guarantee do we have that these warnings are accurate?"

"You have the guarantee that my Creator was the one to design those systems and test them in field conditions." Grounder said icily as he moved to stand next to the desk Sam was at. "I assure you that my Creator would not have released any system he'd written himself if he wasn't certain that they could handle the stress that field conditions provide."

"That's enough, Grounder." Sam reprimanded softly while placing a hand on the tense mech's shoulder. "Class is dismissed. I'll see all of you tomorrow."

Moving away from Grounder, he began gathering his belongings together as his youngest Creation glared at Martinez until the man left the room. Shaking his head in amused exasperation, Sam moved to pick up the eraser in the corner and began wiping down the chalkboards. "And you wonder why everyone insists upon calling you the youngest," he murmured with a grin when the glare was moved to him instead. "You know I remember Will telling me, 'Act like a brat and you'll get treated like a brat, brat'."

"I fail to see how your co-Creation referring to you as a brat has anything to do with me reacting to that man's attitude where you're concerned." Grounder replied sullenly as he hopped up onto the desk with his arms crossed. "Why do you even allow him to stay in this class? I know I've heard you tell 'Strike that it would take an act of benevolence from Primus to make Martinez a good medic, so why?"

"Because as I've told you before," Sam said as he gently placed his laptop into its bag, his hands still lightly coated in the white dust from the chalk. "I have no way to remove him from the class with his sponsors being who they are. Keller's already tried backing me up on this and all we got for it was an official reprimand."

"But there's got to be something else you could try to have him removed from the class," Grounder protested as he swung his legs still dangling over the side of the desk. "You know that your Creator will fritz if you send him there for the final evaluation."

"Yes," Sam replied as he finished gathering his belongings together and gently pushed Grounder from his perch atop the desk. "But it's also the only way I currently have of denying him any sort of entry into the medical units. If Ratchet says no, then there isn't really anything else anyone can do to gainsay him."

"Hmph. If you've come up with that then you've been spending entirely too much time with those Decepticons."

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing considering that we're going back, Grounder."

DoX

"So you're leaving?"

"Yeah," Sam said with a nod as he looked up at the three Seekers standing around him. "Someone reminded me that I needed to be getting home."

"So," Starscream said quietly, "you have decided to ally yourself with the Autobots."

"There aren't many other choices, Star." Sam replied as he dug through the enormous bag the Seekers had brought him. "I refuse to be Megatron's pet goldfish and I'm strong enough now to keep the Autobots from walking all over me like before. I'm not afraid to defend myself or my choices this time around."

"So you're allowing them to brand you." Thundercracker said from where he was leaning against a tree in the clearing the group had claimed as theirs, his hands playing with a small object. "I thought that only food sources on this planet were branded."

"I swear to Primus TC, if you're calling me a fragging cow…"

"So you're gonna be fighting against us?" Skywarp interrupted, his normally jovial features twisted by sadness tinged with anger. "You're actually gonna fight against us, Spike?"

"I'm a medic, 'Warp." Sam replied gently, making a face as he pulled out a sparkling sized cube of low grade energon. "I'll fight if I need to defend myself or my patients, but my first priority is and always will be healing."

"Should we expect more foolish stunts because of your insistence to allow your pathetically weak emotions to guide you?" Starscream sneered as he stared pointedly at the untouched energon in the youth's hand.

"Star, we've already had this discussion." Sam said with a grimace as he took a swallow of the shimmering blue liquid. "I thought we came to the agreement that hate and anger are not the only emotions worth having after the enlightening discussion about your 'rescue' back in Iacon."

"So when are you leaving?" Thundercracker hastily interrupted recognizing the warning glimmer in Starscream's optics.

"I'm supposed to leave day after tomorrow. Faststrike and the others went on ahead with the military transport today." Sam said, trying not to gag as he chugged the rest of the low grade. "I'll leave as soon as my ride gets here, and considering who my ride is… it could really be anytime in the next day or so."

"Then finish another cube before we begin scanning." Starscream ordered his optics piercing as he stared down at the obviously reluctant youth. "Your energy levels are far too low for any scan to be completed safely. So unless you'd prefer for Skywarp to hold you down while I use more forcible means of getting you to ingest the energon…"

"That's just cold Star."

"You are in no danger of hypothermia so cease with your complaints."

DoX

"Any reason why you sent _Jazz_ to pick up my little brother?"

Glancing down from his desk to the floor where Will stood staring up at him with his arms crossed, Prowl sat the data pad in his hands onto the desk and stood. Stepping away from the desk, the tactician knelt down in front of the obviously irate man in his office. "I sent my bond mate because I trust him to be able to bring Sam back here safely without exacerbating the previous situation." Prowl replied, calm blue optics meeting furious brown eyes. "I believe that his time spent recharging in the rec room has allowed him to finally be able to view their actions in the same light that Sam himself did."

"Yeah, just one little problem with that sentence there," Will retorted heatedly, "you _think_ that he's finally faced up to the fact that all of them were a bunch of idiots that sure as hell _don't_ deserve the second chance he's givin' them. _You_ might think that's a good enough reason but I sure as hell ain't seein' the logic in this, Prowl."

"Sam may have found it within his Spark to give them a second chance but I by no means, expect for him to have forgiven them so quickly." Prowl said quietly, his optics following Will's pacing form. "He will need this time with Jazz to allow himself to determine if he can truly begin to forgive them or if more time will be required."

"This better not blow up in our faces, Prowl." Will muttered with a long drawn out sigh as he rubbed a hand over his face wearily. "I want him back here where I can keep an eye on him. Having Faststrike and the rest of his Creations looking out for him ain't the same as me knowing what's going on cause I'm actually there."

"If it is of any consolation to you," Prowl said, "I do not believe that Jazz will take this opportunity given to him lightly."

"You'd better be right." Will's hand slid away from his face as his features settled into a more neutral expression. "But now that I've got your attention, I've been meanin' to ask what your little outburst was all about last week."

"My outburst?" Prowl asked stiffly his optics reflecting complete puzzlement at the question. "What outburst would you be referring to, Will?"

"You know," Will said waving his hand in the air, "the one where you had it out with Jazz in front of the base with just about everyone on base listening in."

"That would have been the culmination of my patience with their unrelenting reluctance to see their own contributions to the youngling's decision to leave." Prowl replied tiredly, his optics dimming as he spoke and the lines around his mouth seemed to tighten with every word. "I—things between Jazz and I have been strained since then and I was simply no longer able to retain the slim amount of control I was still capable of over the emotions that had been plaguing me since that battle."

"In other words, you just snapped."

Taking a moment to look up the context of Will's statement, Prowl nodded in agreement as he rose from his kneeling position. "I found myself… irked by my bond mate's refusal to accept any sort of rationalization in regards to the youngling's actions. Never in all our vorns together had he ever acted in such a manner, and when the opportunity presented itself to allow for some of those emotions to escape, I found myself unable to resist."

"Considering the way you were yellin' at him, I think _irked_ is a bit of an understatement." Will said with a hint of sarcasm coloring his tone. "But can't say I blame you, especially since I've been wanting to tear into them for acting the way they did too."

DoX

Standing outside of the barracks not five minutes after he'd received the call, Sam wasn't surprised to see a familiar silver Solstice pulling to a stop in front of him, the driver's side door opening. Settling his bag into the passenger side, Sam took one last look around the empty barracks that had served as his home for the past three years before sliding into the car. Unable to stop himself from smiling when the car's engine began revving the second he did his seatbelt Sam started laughing as they shot out of the housing area and through the gates lining the exit from the base. Content to pass the drive in silence, Sam was startled when the silence was broken by Jazz's hesitant tones.

"Why'd ya decide to come back?" Jazz's voice was subdued as the voice filtered through the speakers. "Not that it's a bad thing, but tha' way tha' Prowl an' Will was talkin' last week…"

"Last week," Sam replied his eyes staring outside of the window, "I would have said you were crazy for saying that I would be going back. But things change and I got someone willing to knock some proverbial sense into me."

"Yeah, an' us messin' up as bad as we did probably didn't hurt none in makin' ya stay away for so long."

Sam remained silent, his head slowly sliding to rest against the cool window of the silver car he was riding in. Jazz chuckled lowly as he adjusted the contours of the seat around the sleeping youth, the tint on his windows darkening to hide the sleeping 'driver'. "I'm jus' glad tha' ya decided to come back, younglin'." Jazz said softly as he meandered down the roads and highways leading to the Autobot base. "Ratch an' 'Jack'll be real glad to see ya around again. An' maybe we'll all get tha' chance to apologize for th' way we was actin' like a buncha glitches 'stead of helpin' ya like Prowl an' Will were."

DoX

Starscream sat in his darkened quarters staring pensively at the small object given to him by the human during their last encounter. The image of the human's face, of the resigned acceptance mingled with sadness was burned into his memory banks along with others that he wished he could simply delete from existence but knew he never would. Instead the memories of the human would now be relegated to the same password protected file that held all of his memories of Skyfire.

Upon their return to base, his wing mates had left him without so much as a word as he'd trudged to his quarters. Not to say that Skywarp and Thundercracker hadn't gone to their own quarters in such a subdued manner that many throughout the base had been giving the trine odd looks. He'd known that their actions would be viewed with suspicion as the lead trine was anything but subdued even after losing a battle to the Autobots. But he couldn't bring himself to care while his Spark was still reeling with the strength of so many conflicting emotions residing within its depths.

"I'd ask what you think I should do, Skyfire. But I think I already know what your answer would be." Starscream spoke aloud in the darkened room, the vibrant hues of his ruby optics muted as he continued to stare at the small metallic object. "But things have changed and I have my wing mates to take care of. They have and will continue to remain my priority in this Primus forsaken war. And if taking care of them means having to betray a being that in another life I would never have dreamed of betraying, then I'll do it if it means that my wing mates are safe for another day."

Standing from his berth with a soft whisper of movement, Starscream allowed his optics to shutter closed for a brief moment. Warring emotions playing across his face before he finally reactivated his optics, the ruby optics gleaming with the same mix of emotions that he would forever hold in his memory as being in Spike's eyes. "May Primus forgive me where I cannot." He murmured as he set down the small piece of metal that held the insignia of the Air Guardians painstakingly carved onto its surface. Exiting his quarters the red and white Seeker was greeted with the sight of his wing mates waiting patiently in the hallway.

"You sure about this, Star?" Thundercracker asked from his spot next to the doorway as he glanced at his wing mate with concerned optics. "We don't have to do this if it's not what you want to do."

"We are Decepticons." Starscream answered, refusing to meet the optics of either of his wing mates as he started to walk down the hallways of the living area of the base. "He knew and understood that fact when he gave us the information he did. We would be no better than those Autobots he is returning to if we allowed such a golden opportunity to slip through our very fingers. We will alert Megatron as to the movements of the Allspark and then we will obey any orders that he deems necessary to give."

"Even if it means betraying him?" Tilting his head to look at Skywarp, Starscream nodded his head. "As I have already stated, we are Decepticons. It is in our very programming to betray those we once called friend if they choose to place themselves against us. He has made his choice and now we make ours."

DoX

Violet eyes snapped open when the car he was riding in swerved violently and a vile litany of curses in both English and Cybertronian began flowing through the speakers. Arching an eyebrow at some of the more… inventive curses, Sam couldn't but to drawl, "I didn't think it was structurally possible for a Seeker to do that, Jazz."

"Give me a coupla minutes alone with one a th' slaggers an' I can _guarantee_ ya it'll be possible." Jazz growled as he pushed his engine and dodged the missiles the Seekers were firing with merry abandon. "Slaggin' 'Cons jus' can't let a mech get back to base without bein' ambushed for a game of tag."

"I don't think tag's what they're looking for, Jazz." Sam commented dryly as the Solstice continued to drive erratically down the thankfully empty highway. "Especially since last time I checked tag didn't involve missiles. And I swear to Primus if you get yourself hit by one of those, I'm only gonna repair enough to keep you alive before I let Ratch have at you."

"That's jus' cruel, younglin'." Jazz said as he continued to speed down the highway, his back tires scrabbling for purchase on the road as he took another tight curve on the winding road.

"You'll live," Sam replied before biting his bottom lip nervously.

"Ya don't gotta worry 'bout them 'Cons catchin' us." Jazz's mellow tones filled the interior as he tried to sooth away the tense expression marring the youth's features. "I ain't the fastest in th' ground forces for nothin' ya know? Ain't about to let a coupla Seekers ruin my rep after I been workin' so hard on it neither."

"I'm not worried, Jazz." Sam said quietly, his words barely audible over the sounds of missiles hitting the ground and the revving of the Solstice's engine. "I'm just—I just wish that there weren't so many roads to choose from."

DoX

He hadn't felt so nervous since he'd met with Optimus after waking up in the med bay after Mission City the first time, Sam decided as he reluctantly moved from the relative safety of Jazz's interior to stand in front of the base's entrance. Reaching back into the Solstice's interior, he pulled his duffle bag from the passenger seat and slung it over his shoulder as he straightened. Taking a deep breath, he continued staring warily at the large structure as the sounds of transformation began from behind him.

"You planning on stayin' out here all day or what?"

"I haven't decided yet." Sam said as Will stepped towards him to sling an arm around his shoulders before tugging playfully on the end of the short ponytail his hair was pulled back into.

"And you _still_ haven't cut your hair. How the hell do you keep convincing them to leave it like that?"

"Because unlike you, _I_ am capable of talking to my superiors without being thrown into the brig for an indeterminate amount of time." Sam shot back as he allowed the other man to lead him into the base with Jazz following behind him. "Plus there's the fact that Keller likes me."

"You realize that just sounds wrong, right?" Will asked as he glanced down his twin.

"SAM!"

Head snapping up as he heard a voice he hadn't heard in nearly four years, Sam grinned wildly at the man walking down the hall towards them. "Sparkplug! What are you doing here?" He asked as he pulled away from Will to give the other man a hug, mindful of the curious optics watching them as they stood in the hallway.

"They were looking for competent mechanics," Sparkplug answered as he started walking down the hall with the pair. "And since the teacher was comin' down here they just sent me here too."

"So you're part of my newest batch?"

"What are you talking about?" Sparkplug asked curiously. "The teacher's name is—."

"Major Spike Lennox," Will said with a smirk. "Couldn't let my little brother go running off without at least _some_ kind of protection, now could I? And with my promotion last year, everyone knows better than to let him go out and get into the kind of trouble that seems to follow him around like some kind of damn stray dog."

"I resent that, you know."

"Don't you mean resemble?"

"Remind me why I came back again?"

"Cause you love us?"

"Debatable."

DoX

"Secretary Keller has agreed to my transfer to this base," Sam said firmly as he met the blue optics of the mechs surrounding him in Optimus Prime's office. "My students will be notified of the transfer and should begin arriving by the beginning of next week, sir."

"Why?"

"Sir?" Sam asked, confusion bleeding into his voice as he stared up at the red and blue form of the Autobot leader.

"Why have you requested this transfer?" Optimus clarified as he knelt down in the front of the youth. "I would not have believed you would have reason to return after the circumstances surrounding your decision to leave."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted."

"I—," Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair raggedly as he composed himself. "It seems that neutrality is a luxury I don't have. The first Allspark was able to choose, and that choice set the precedent by which the subsequent Allspark adhered to. But it wasn't my own. Megatron won't stop looking for me just because I'm a neutral and that certainly won't stop him from trying to use me. If I'm going to be involved in this war, then I want it to be on my own terms and that's something I can't do while hiding behind a mask of neutrality."

"You have chosen to ally yourself with the Autobots?"

"No," Sam replied as his shoulders straightened. "I've decided to _become_ one of the Autobots. I won't fight if I don't have to, but I'm still a medic with field experience that can prove valuable in the right conditions."

"Are you certain of this decision?" Prime asked quietly. "You are still young and have the chance to live at least a portion of your outside of the effects of this war should you choose to take it."

"Not everyone was meant to have a real childhood, sir." Sam said as violet eyes softened sadly as he met the optics of his Creators standing off to the side. "But here I'll at least have the opportunity to act my Spark's age when the opportunity presents itself. You of all people should understand that sometimes we aren't given the choices we would like and that sometimes we have to ignore the roads that we would have otherwise taken if circumstances had not been what they are."

"If that is your choice."

"May Primus take my word as oath," Sam began, kneeling down onto the floor with his left hand lying over his Spark, "my allegiance is yours to hold until the day our Sparks are one with the Matrix."

"Til all are one."

DoX

And the first arc is over. I feel that I should explain some things about the reason for my saying this is the first arc. The first arc was always meant to be about Sam finding his own reasons for joining the Autobots. I didn't want him joining because his family was there, or because he _thought_ that the Autobots were good and the Decepticons were evil. Even if his reasons aren't really clear at the moment, but that'll change.

Review Responses (HA! Told you I'd get around to remembering about them, even if it is 4:29 in the morning and I should probably be going to sleep…)

RachaelMNiner: Thank you so much! About the Seeker's, I've always loved them. Even as a kid I was fascinated with them. And I think that the way they are now has a lot of influence from the Armada Starscream mixed with G1 Starscream. I'm glad you liked them though.

Inufreak831: 1. I hope that this chapter at least partially answered your question. 2. Good question, but unfortunately one I can't answer without giving away vital plot details. 3. Um… will you get mad if I say the same thing as question 2? And thanks for reading this but I don't think this'll be finished for many chapters to come. Actually, I think the last time I looked at my outline I was going around forty or so chapters just for this one story.

Koros89: Agh! FFnet _loves_ eating my breaks for the a/n's. I'll try to go back and fix them though, so thanks for reading and letting me know about it so I can fix it.

Raine21: Yes, I happen to be a big fan of protective Autobots as well. And I've also loved the idea of Will as a big brother figure, mainly because of the way he interacted with Sam so well in the film. About Megatron… I had to write him like that because I can't just see him as this insane tyrant instead of someone that honestly thinks that what he's fighting for is something _worth_ fighting for even if others can't see it. Um… some more explanations and stuff about Sam's running away will be in the next chap in the form of a very fragged off Sarah Lennox. And yeah, I don't think that the Autobots are these perfect beings, I mean come on, everyone has to mess up sometime and I don't think that the Autobots are exempt from that.

Trunks lil' Sis: Refer to part 1 of inufreak831's response for your answer to the question about Spike/Sam. And thank you so much for reading this.

Jazzy Kat: Sam needs all the hugs he can get because things ain't getting easier any time soon.

Rena1: Honestly about Prowl? I was sitting there typing that portion of the chapter and was thinking about how logical all of these things were and it just fit that Prowl would be the one to think about it like that. About the Seekers, I will say only this. When I was about five I had my heart set on this Starscream figure that I saw at the store, and my mom asked me if I knew that he was one of the bad guys (I think just trying to make sure that he's what I really wanted) and I told her that he wasn't bad that he was just a Decepticon instead of an Autobot.

Easter of Flesh: The reunion still has a little bit of tweaking which is why it wasn't in this chapter. Mainly because Ratchet refuses to cooperate and when he is then Sam isn't.

Cman710: The Sam/Bee stuff will never be all hot and heavy I promise. The focus of the story isn't about them but they were rather insistent about being in there all the same.

Catc10: I know that it does get confusing sometimes but I'm glad that you're sticking through with me while I work on making the smoke go away.

Lendaras: Thank you. And I no longer have cabin fever thanks to my loving twin sneaking me out of the house to get a lovely Autobot tattoo. Yeah, we're in so much trouble for that one…

And to everyone else who reviewed… you have my most heartfelt thanks. I think I've already said this, but I think it bears repeating. I really never thought that anyone would like this story as much as it seems like and… and now I'm blushing fraggit all. Um… I guess just thanks so much for giving me the support to keep writing this after the first chapter and for giving me the incentive to stay up way past my bedtime to push past the writer's block. It means a lot to me and I hope that you guys'll stick around til the end of this story… cause there are still so many roads left until the end. Ithilas


	11. Interlude

Experiences 

Interlude

This is quite honestly the shortest thing I have ever written for this story. Subsequent chapters should be back to their normal lengths after this.

"WILLIAM! SAMUEL! BUMBLEBEE!"

Pausing in the center of the hallway at the amount of homicidal intent being projected in the voice echoing through the hallways, Jazz shrugged before pressing himself against the side of the hallway as a bright yellow Camaro flew past him with a rather irate Hummer not far behind. A corner of his mouth quirked upwards into a smile as he heard the hysterical laughter coming from the car's occupants while the Hummer continued to spew increasingly descriptive threats of reformatting and deactivation. "Those three all have some kinda death wish," he muttered to the empty hallway as he shook his head in amusement.

DoX

They had that look again, Mikaela realized as she sat in the quiet mess hall poking half heartedly at the sludge on her tray that had unrealistic aspirations of being recognized as meatloaf. When they bent closer to each other to begin whispering to each other with mischievous excitement all but gleaming from their eyes, Mikaela gave up all hope of being able to talk them out of whatever they were thinking of doing. She'd tried it once but she'd been rebuffed with the explanation that they did it only when everyone needed a break from the war and since the _other_ twins had done it the last time it was their turn. Unbidden the image of Ratchet after their last attempt sprang to her mind in all of its bright pink, polka dotted glory. Clamping her lips tightly shut to prevent herself from breaking into laughter at the memory of Ratchet's enraged shriek, she quietly set her fork down and with a shrug of her shoulders smoothly interjected herself into the planning process. After all, if they were gonna get Jazz then they were going to need all of the help they could get… up to and including the involvement of the mech in question's bond mate and unfortunately for the boys, Prowl only spoke to them when they were being raked over the coals.

DoX

"What were all of you _thinking_!"

"Oh—."

"Well you see—."

"There was this—."

"He started it!"

"He started it?" Ratchet repeated emotionlessly, his optics flaring with anger as they darted towards the three other figures staring in absolute horror at the fourth member of their quartet. Where had the well mannered, polite youngling he claimed as his, gone? Optics turning cold, Ratchet reached behind him towards the tray of newly sterilized instruments resting on top of the operating berth he'd set them on after receiving word of his Creation's involvement in a prank involving industrial strength glue, feathers and a rather incensed Red Alert. "And what exactly could he have done that would warrant the treatment he received?"

"You know that little rat that keeps following me around? The one that Mikaela won't let me take to the animal shelter?" Sam asked with his arms crossed over his chest. "_He's _the one that brought it. _He's_ the one that named it Mojo. And _he's_ the one that managed to convince the rat that it belongs with me so now I can't get rid of it."

DoX

He was going to _kill_ him, Bumblebee decided as he stared slack jawed at the bookmarked webpage that Jazz had suggested he take a look at. In all of its black and white glory on the screen of the terminal in his room sat an _altered_ version of a Stephen King novel that he had the misfortune of knowing all too well. Leaning back in his chair, Bumblebee eyed the screen for a few moments before nodding his head and hastily sending a copy of the bookmark along with an explanation to the med bay terminals.

DoX

This had to be one of the stupidest things they'd ever done, Epps thought as he watched Ironhide, Will and Sam being herded through the base by a rather twitchy medic. Hell, even the human side of the base knew better than to get on the wrong side of the medic's temper. Well most everyone, there were still the newbies that had to _see_ one of Ratchet's fits before they'd understand that maybe getting on the CMO's bad side wasn't such a great idea. But looking at the grins Will and Sam were giving each other as Ironhide began arguing with Ratchet he couldn't help but to wonder if maybe someone had forgotten to give them the memo.

DoX

He'd gotten entirely too good at this, Wheeljack decided when he met the pleading eyes of the youngling his bond mate had adopted. Eyes like that shouldn't be allowed, especially not when they were tempting him to do something stupid. Stupid things generally being in the area of distracting his bond mate so that the youngling could make a run for it. And really he probably shouldn't, especially considering that he'd been caught with Jazz for the sixth time in a single week by the human police for refusing to obey the speed limits posted for both their safety and the safety of others on the road. But the eyes… really what kind of Creator would he be if he just abandoned his youngling to the not so tender mercies of his enraged bond mate? Jazz could handle himself he was sure, but the youngling… Taking a deep inhalation of air through his vents, Wheeljack sent the youngling a pointed look before breaking something on one of his newest inventions. Something that really had no business being broken, and if he didn't get control of his thoughts he was really going to start sounding like Bluestreak—

BOOM!

"Fraggit Wheeljack! Do you have to destroy my med bay! Isn't your lab good enough for you anymore!"

Rubbing the back of his helm sheepishly with singed fingers, Wheeljack grinned nervously at the blue optics glaring at him. "Eh heh, sorry?"

DoX

So this just refused to get out of my mind and so I just had to get it out. I'm posting it as an interlude because it does tie into the timeline of Experiences and also manages to show a bit more of life before everything jumped into the that proverbial hand basket. I hope that you guys like reading this as much as I liked writing it. Since Ratchet and Sam have finally managed to reach a truce, Chapter Nine is making decent progress and I hope to have it posted sometime later this week… if I haven't jinxed myself.


	12. Chapter 9

Experiences

I would apologize for the delay in this chapter but unfortunately there was a lot of research that went into the making of a theory that took me weeks to hammer out completely. Even now, it's still evolving and will probably continue to evolve until that last chapter is finally typed. In the meantime, please enjoy this newest chapter and hopefully I'll pass my finals since I spent time writing when I was supposed to be studying… Oh well…

DoX

_**What we call the beginning is often the end.**_

_**T.S. Eliot**_

DoX

"You haven't been sleeping." Will's voice was matter-of-fact as he lowered himself onto the cool grass beside the younger man staring unblinkingly upwards at the night sky. "I don't know if I should worry about that or if I should be more worried about how you wake up screaming when you do sleep."

An uncomfortable silence fell when Sam's arms wrapped tightly around his knees, his chin resting lightly on top. "Do you know how the Allspark was created?" He asked quietly ignoring the suddenly rapt gaze being focused on him. "Everyone just assumes that it was something Primus created on his own." Sam paused a moment to take a deep breath, his eyes refusing to meet those of his twin. "But creations always reflect back upon their creators, did you know that?"

"Sam?"

"I remember when my parents died Bumblebee told me, 'that to die means you've lived'. So I guess in a way it makes sense about the Allspark's creation when you think about the fact that life is always, in some way, intertwined with death and since death is often connected with chaos—."

"Sam!" Startled violet eyes looked up to find that his brother was kneeling in front of his with hands resting gently on top of his shoulders. "You realize that I still have no clue what the hell you're going on about, right?"

"I was talking about how the Allspark was created," Sam said with a small laugh that sent chills racing up Will's spine as he met somber eyes and felt the roiling mass of emotions swirling inside his younger twin. "The reason Cybertron always had a Prime and a Lord High Protector as their ruling parties was because of the needed balance between Order and Chaos. They ground the opposing forces that created the Allspark." Biting his bottom lip nervously as he dropped his gaze to the ground, Sam blurted out the knowledge that had been learned the night after his arrival back on base. "The Allspark is the only true creation made by both Primus and Unicron."

"What?" Will whispered hoarsely, his hands tightening their grip over the slim shoulders as his mind shot back to the day Prowl had explained about Primus and the creation of Cybertron.

"The Thirteen were the ones to document the battles between Primus and Unicron but anything to do with the Allspark's creation was kept quiet." Sam murmured as he continued to bite his lip nearly breaking the soft skin. "Primus miscalculated more than just the mess with their bodies; he miscalculated what would happen with the excess of energy used by the both of them when they left the astral plane and what happened with the bodies they weren't returned to."

"If this is a joke I swear I'm gonna kick your ass."

"I wish it were a joke but unfortunately for me, Primus is one hell of a bastard when he thinks you're taking too long." Sam retorted as he leaned his forehead against Will's shoulder. "The Matrix holds the essence of Primus which is why the Primes hold a bond with the Allspark even if it isn't as strong as others the Allspark holds. And the Lord High Protector acts as a means of balance for the Chaos of the Allspark which is why that bond is so much stronger than any other." Feeling the minute flinch beneath him, Sam smiled bitterly. "Do you understand what's going on now? If I block my bond with Megatron then I have no means of balance. There's a reason Primus made sure that the bonds I held with my Spark unit were untouched. They were meant to act as a barrier for me until I learned to control it only—."

"—only you left." Will finished with a sense of dawning horror washing over him.

Nodding his head against the soft fabric of his twin's shirt, Sam closed his eyes tightly against the feelings of disbelief and what felt like protectiveness emanating from him. "He told me the night before I decided to come back that there were some answers I wasn't ready for. And the sad thing about it all is that even if he doesn't tell me the _entire_ truth, at the same time he isn't lying to me about it either." Moving his hands from around his knees he wound them tightly into Will's shirt. "I _have_ to start talking to our Creators again but… but I don't know how."

"Not if you're not ready." Will said, his arms wrapping gently around the shaking body leaning against him. "Talking to them isn't gonna do a damn thing if you're not ready."

"What I'm ready for doesn't factor into anything, Will." Sam replied the coppery tang of blood filling his mouth and spilling his lip as the fragile skin broke. "Order can't create or preserve life by itself. There's a reason Chaos was needed to create the Allspark. Uncontrolled Chaos is only gonna hurt everyone and not just here either. Because I'm the Allspark I'm connected to the Matrix which is really just another extension of Primus that exists outside of the realities."

"Why do I get the feeling that there's a point here and that I'm not gonna like it?" Will groaned as he draped his arms around the younger man in a loose hug. "One of these days Primus and I are gonna have a little chat after I rescue 'Hide's cannons from their life of servitude."

"If you're looking to meet up with Primus then stealing 'Hide's cannons is a one hell of a way to do it." Sam commented dryly before losing all traces of amusement as he sighed, his voice becoming tightly laced with apprehension. "He never thought that there would ever be another incident like the one with the Fallen so fail-safes were never created for that particular possibility."

"He's Primus!" Will hissed, his eyes flaring angrily as he forced the words out. "He's a fucking _God_ and you're telling me that he didn't _think_ to make plans in case something happened? _God's_ don't make mistakes like that unless they're too busy fucking around with other people's lives!"

"Gods aren't infallible, Will." Sam replied coldly, his head lifting to meet his brother's infuriated gaze. "The Fallen was driven away with Unicron and Primus went into a version of stasis lock to both recover and hide Cybertron in case Unicron came back. By the time Primus came out of his version of stasis-lock, the war had been going on for vorns and the Allspark had been sent out into space. Primus has bigger things to worry about, like the simple fact that if I _don't_ learn how to control Chaos then Unicron is going to feel it. And considering that he thinks he destroyed the Allspark before he was forced into another reality that would definitely be really fragging bad."

"Sam—."

"No. No, just mute it. Just mute it and listen to me for five slaggin' seconds." Sam shrugged his twin's arms away as he stood and began pacing, nearly beside himself in anger. "The Allspark's like Primus in the fact that every Spark it holds and releases is replicated in every other reality. That means that if the Allspark were to ever be completely destroyed then there _would never be another Spark_ because the Allspark is the basis of their existence and without the Allspark to act as a catalyst there's nothing Primus can do."

Hugging himself, Sam stopped pacing long enough to stand in front of his still kneeling twin. "Do you understand now?" He asked quietly. "Primus is the embodiment of Order but Order alone can't create life, it can't Create Sparks the way that the Allspark does. Life isn't filled with solely Order, there's a decent amount of Chaos in there as well which is usually given release through death. The Allspark has the Chaos needed to sustain life and I'll join Megatron before I slag something this important up."

"But that still doesn't answer me when I wanna know why _you_ have to control it and not Primus."

"What is your glitch? Primus is Order. He _can't_ control Chaos because Order is the exact opposite of Chaos." Hands reaching up to tug on the ends of his hair in exasperation, Sam glared down. "We're twins for a reason, you know. Even a single Spark can't handle those two together. My Spark was fracturing because while I could control Order I still couldn't control Chaos and having Megatron around was only making it worse. _All_ twins are at the most basic levels living manifestations of Order and Chaos. We're different in that while they exist in multiple realities, we only exist in this one."

Will remained silent his eyes distant while Sam resumed his pacing. "Other than the Thirteen and now us, Primus has never involved himself in the Creation of any Spark. Our Spark was Created with the hope that I would learn to control both aspects of the Allspark and eventually give true meaning to the term, Lifegiver. I'm—_we're_ different in that we now exist in only one reality. Our Spark still holds the mark of Primus but it also recognizes our Creators as contributors to our Spark."

Standing slowly from his kneeling position, Will reached out with one arm to bring his pacing brother to a halt. Tugging him close, the older man wrapped an arm around tense shoulders his head lowering to rest amidst silky brown hair. "If you're gonna try and talk with them then there's some things you should know about first."

DoX

Sarah smiled happily at the pair running in her yard, the young woman holding a wrench in her hand menacingly as she chased the young man sprinting for his life while yelling apologies. Smile widening when she felt arms slip around her still trim waist; she leaned back into the firm chest behind her. Reluctant to break the peaceful atmosphere as she lifted her hands to rest lightly on the larger, calloused ones resting over her abdomen, Sarah laughed when Mikaela tripped Sam onto the grass, the young woman quickly pinning him to the ground as she began shouting.

"I told him he shoulda let her know he was back in town." Her husband's low voice murmured into her ear as the younger pair outside. "But I guess living with robots doesn't exactly help with the fine skill needed to coexist peacefully with women."

"Like you're any better, Mr. I-forgot-our-anniversary." Sarah shook her head with amusement when Will began sputtering nearly incoherent excuses. "And don't think I didn't hear you and Sam arguing out front last night."

Will winced at the coolness of his wife's voice. "It wasn't so much arguing as it was him telling me something I didn't like." He protested, his eyes still watching his now laughing brother. "But everything's fine now."

"Is that a fact?" Sarah murmured quietly, her lips twisting into a light smirk when she felt Will stiffen. "And I guess you finally got around to telling him about Ratchet and Wheeljack?"

"Sort of."

"Will," Sarah's voice was exasperated, "you promised me that you were gonna tell him the day he came back. It's almost been a week, when the hell are you gonna tell him?"

"It ain't as easy as you're making it sound." Will said quietly, his chin lowering to rest on his wife's shoulder. "He needs me to be his brother right now. It's something Ratch and 'Jack need to fix on their own. I can't be doing anything more than being there for him when they do."

Humming in agreement, Sarah tugged lightly on the arms still around her when the timer for the oven buzzed. Grabbing the pot holders from the counter before opening the oven door she resisted the urge to laugh when the sounds of Mikaela's and Sam's argument began echoing through the house.

"—I'm just saying that it wasn't like I made _plans_." Sam protested from the living room, his hand rubbing the sore spot on his head where Mikaela's hand had made repeated contact. "It was more like a spur of the moment thing, you know?"

"Spur of the moment or not," Mikaela replied petulantly, "you still could have called."

"But 'Kaela, I already said I was sorry." Sam whined piteously violet eyes as wide as he could possibly make them while staring entreatingly at the young woman. "I even brought you a present! And you tried to hit me with it!"

"Your _present_ was a wrench!"

"But it's one of the ones that just came out of production for the field medic kits!"

"And a wrench was all you could think of?"

"What was I supposed to bring you? Lip gloss from Victoria's Secret or something?"

"Do I look like a guy to you?"

"If it weren't for the fact that you look like a girl I would have some serious doubts!" Yelping in pain when Mikaela's hand made violent contact with his head again, Sam stuck his tongue out in a fit of childishness as the two made their way into the kitchen. Rolling his eyes at his brother's subtle jabs through their bond, Sam smiled warmly at the blond woman standing at the kitchen sink with the water running as she placed a still warm pot into it.

"Sarah!" He cried happily as he bounced over to her to wrap his arms around her in a hug. "Oh light of my life and wife of my most unworthy brother, is that a chicken roast I smell?"

"Samuel James, get your hands off me this instant and go wash up for dinner!" Sarah scolded the young man teasingly while elbowing him lightly in the ribs. "You too, Mikaela. Don't think I didn't notice the two of you rolling around in the dirt out there."

"Yes, ma'am." The two echoed each other, exchanging sharp glances before leaving the kitchen with small shoves and sharp elbow jabs. Heaving a soft sigh at the pair's antics, Sarah turned her attention back to the bowl of still steaming vegetables set on the counter alongside the plate of chicken. Hearing the clink of dishes being removed from another cabinet, she lifted the food from the counter setting it onto the table just as Sam and Mikaela returned.

Half an hour later Sam wiped his mouth with a napkin before picking up his plate to empty it in the trash before depositing it into the soapy water waiting in the sink. Back turned, he missed the glances exchanged by the three still sitting at the table as Will and Mikaela stood up as well. Clamping down tightly on their bond, Will commented loudly to Mikaela about wanting to get his wife's car checked out while Sarah joined Sam at the kitchen sink.

Humming softly as she washed the dishes while handing them to Sam to be rinsed and dried, Sarah bit her lip indecisively before speaking. "Have you talked to Bumblebee since you came back?" She asked with a carefully contrived tone of neutrality. "Will said he just came back from a mission."

"I've been pretty busy making sure that I've got my new classroom set up."

"I woulda thought you'd make time to go see your bonded after you up and took off for so long." Sarah turned a pointed gaze on the suddenly tight lipped youth standing beside with a wet dish towel hanging limply from his hands. "What happened to you tellin' me that you weren't gonna leave 'im unless he wanted you to?"

Violet eyes flashed angrily while he inhaled sharply, "the Bumblebee I said that about wouldn't have left me in the brig the way he did and he sure as hell wouldn't have accused me of malfunctioning for doing something that was the right thing to do." Sam's voice was frigid as he leaned his hands against the edge of the sink, the towel falling from his hands to land on the floor with a 'plop'. "And until he figures out what the hell he wants or even what his own glitch is then I want nothing to do with him."

"Do you love him?"

"Wha—what kind of question is that?" Eyes widened in shock as Sarah bent down to pick up the discarded towel from the floor, Sam's mouth opened and closed wordlessly for several moments before closing with a snap.

"Do you love him?" Sarah repeated her eyes soft as she laid her still moist hand on top of Sam's. "Cause I'm almost certain that he still loves you or as near to it as their kind get. He's been over at least once a week since you left to ask if I've gotten any word from you, just tryin' to make sure you were alright. Seems to me that you've still got a lot of hurt that ain't lettin' you think straight." Squeezing the cool hand under hers reassuringly, Sarah smiled sympathetically at the young man staring stubbornly down at the dish water. "Ain't nothing gonna be fixed until you start talkin' to him, even if it starts as just a whole lot of yellin'. And I can promise there's gonna be a lot of yellin' 'til you get it all sorted out between you both. But if you could stand here a couple years back and tell me that I didn't know anything 'bout what was happening then there ain't a reason on this Earth that you can't talk to him."

DoX

He'd been lying on his berth since he'd been dropped off back at the base by Will before the other man had left to return home. Deep in thought, Sam had ignored all of the inquisitive glances directed his way when he stood in front of the door to his quarters for nearly fifteen minutes just staring blankly at the keypad. Gathering his wits long enough to enter the code to his quarters, Sam had slunk into the still bare room before flopping onto the berth with a tired sigh of contentment escaping him.

One arm lying tucked beneath his head, the other stretched above his prone form holding a large silver disk. Tilting the disk to reflect the light, Sam stared at it contemplatively before sitting up to rest on the edge of the berth. Raking a hand through tangled hair he winced when his hand caught on a particularly vicious snarl. Standing up he tucked the disk into the back pocket of his pants even as he left his room. Walking swiftly through the darkened hallways leading to his destination, Sam stopped to glance apprehensively at the massive steel doors barring his way. Shoulders slumping, he reached out to the key pad placed further down from the massive one higher up. Slim fingers tapped in the still memorized code waiting for the doors to swish open.

"Fraggit! Unless you're on the verge of deactivation then you can get _out_ of my med bay!" A familiar mechanical voice roared while the Hummer remained with his back turned to the doors occupied with something resting on top of one of the pristine operating berths.

"This a bad time? Cause if it is I can come back later."

"Sam?" Whirling around face plates and optics alight with disbelief as they took in the sight of the small figure standing in front of the closed doors, Ratchet's face quickly contorted in fury. "You disappear for almost four solar cycles and that's all you have to say! Do you have any fraggin' idea how many times my processor nearly locked up out of worry for you, youngling?"

"Funny, I wouldn't have thought you cared." Sam replied coolly, his face carefully wiped clean of all emotion. "Especially since you couldn't bother yourself to remember that you even _had_ a Creation my last few orns here."

"That's what you think? You think we didn't care?" Hurt flickered unbidden through the large mech's optics as he leaned heavily against the operating berth. "Slag me glitched if we don't care! Who do you think made sure you got extra energon in those shipments Prowl slipped you? Better yet, how do you think those shipments stayed unnoticed for as long as they did? All medical supplies are cleared through me before anyone else!"

"If you knew that, then why didn't you try finding me?" Sam yelled, his fists clenching at his sides in frustration as he stomped closer. "Let me know that I was wrong and that you did care instead of letting me think that you didn't give a frag about me except for what I could do as the slagging Allspark!"

"And if we'd have found you, then what?" Ratchet retorted sarcasm laced through his tone, the opening of the med bay doors remaining unnoticed by either of them. "Can you honestly tell me that you would have listened to a single word we had to tell you, youngling? Would you have listened when we told you that we ignored you for those orns because of the anomalies that surfaced in one of your scans?"

"You could have said something instead of hiding out in the med bay or 'Jack's lab all the time!"

"And what would I have said when I truthfully wouldn't have been able to tell you what exactly was the source for those anomalies?" Ratchet demanded optics bright as he stepped away from the berth to kneel in front of the youth. "I became so absorbed in determining their source because treatment for you and your twin cannot be the same as other prescribed treatments for humans. The chance remained that one of you two would be injured and brought to me for repairs and Pit take it, if I was going to let the possibility remain that I would be unable to do so!"

"Right," Sam sneered, "because it's so much better to let your only Creations think that they've been abandoned."

"There's not a thing in the universe that could make us abandon you, Sam." Wheeljack moved away from the doors behind him as he spoke. "As soon as we got all the repairs finished up after you got taken to the brig we were escorted back to our quarters. We made the same oath you did and were all set to break it if it meant finding you a way out. Prime did what he had to do to keep order in the ranks, not like that's any excuse for us and we probably could have tried harder to find a way 'round our escorts—."

"That's enough, 'Jack."

"I kept quiet 'bout Optimus' orders cause you asked me to, Ratch." Wheeljack's voice remained low but his ear panels flashed a vibrant shade of red as he shot a quelling glance towards his bond mate. "But our youngling deserves to know what happened and better that he hears it from us than from someone else who might not tell him everything."

"Fraggit, 'Jack!" Ratchet snarled as he straightened from his kneeling position, his frame vibrating with tension. "We agreed that he didn't need to know!"

"No, _you_ wanted to keep quiet 'bout it all." Wheeljack replied serenely, the flashing ear panels giving away his deceptive tones. "_You_ wanted to keep quiet 'cause of some glitchy idea in your processor 'bout tellin' Sam and undermining his trust in Optimus. But slaggitall, Ratch, he's _our_ younglin'. Prime shouldn't have a Pit-slagged thing to do with any of that."

"And Prime doesn't have anything to do with any of this! I didn't want to say anything because it comes too close to apologizing." Ratchet advanced on his bond mate while Sam watched the argument with wide eyes. "And slag if I'm going to apologize for doing everything possible to make sure that our twins didn't deactivate because we missed something we should have caught."

Sam's eyes narrowed in sudden thought while the two mech's continued arguing. The argument his Creators were having reminded him of something that Will had forced him to promise after their discussion regarding the Allspark. Turning away from the pair as he shimmied his way up onto one of the operating berths, Sam sat on the edge with his legs swinging lightly below. Tapping his fingers against the metal surface absently as the argument began to grow in both volume and viciousness, Sam pursed his lips tightly before letting out a piercing whistle, gathering the startled attention of both mechs.

"As interesting as our reunion is becoming," violet eyes sparkled with thinly veiled amusement, "I was thinking that I was gonna end up dodging all those Nerf balls that Mikaela's said Ratch's been stockpiling. Not that I'm complaining, cause I really wasn't looking forward to testing my reflexes like that, but it would be nice if one of you would get around to explaining what the hell is going on instead of me having to piece things together while you two argue loud enough for Cybertron to hear you. But if you wanna keep arguing then I'm sure there's _some part_ of the Universe that hasn't heard you two yet."

Tension draining out of his frame with a nearly inaudible cycle of his vents, Ratchet looked away to stare at the walls of the med bay while Wheeljack stepped forward. "Optimus gave orders for Red Alert to initiate lockdown codes on both the med bay and our quarters for the duration of your stay in the brig as well as arranging for escorts. Of course," Wheeljack said with a slight chuckle and quick glance towards his mate, "it might have had something to with the fact that Ratch here, had the fit to end all fits when he threw a piece of Sunstreaker's armor at Optimus."

Impressed against his will, Sam turned to stare at his other Creator with a considering glint in his eyes before turning his attention back to Wheeljack. "Sunny wasn't too happy 'bout it either since Ratch was supposed to be getting the dents out of it instead of putting in new ones after Optimus' helm got in the way." The mirth slowly drained from Wheeljack as his optics dimmed tiredly. "Prowl was the only one tellin' us anything 'bout how you were doing down there and Optimus wasn't listening to a fraggin' thing we tried to tell him."

"You should have said something," Sam's cheeks were flushed with anger as he spoke; "I was in the med bay for _three_ days. Three days is more than enough time to tell me that all that time I spent in the brig alone wasn't because you guys had decided that everyone else was right about me."

"We failed." Ratchet spat the words out like they were a bitter poison. "We swore to protect you and we failed when we allowed Optimus to dictate our actions when he had us assigned an escort as well as the code lock on our quarters."

"You failed me by not telling me anything!" Sam retorted, his hand slamming onto the operating berth in frustration. "I can deal with whatever slag anyone else feels that they need to give me as long as I know that my Spark unit is there. But my Spark unit _wasn't _there leaving me thinking that I needed to get away if the only person I had by my side was my twin because even my own bond mate left me."

"There wouldn't have been an excuse we could have given you that _we_ would have been able to accept." Wheeljack interjected calmly, his optics watching Ratchet lift himself up onto the operating berth to sit next to Sam.

"And we're not so outdated that we've forgotten what you younglings are like when you've got an idea locked in your processors."

A smile ghosted across Sam's lips before fading as he shifted and the disk tucked away in his back pocket jabbed sharply into him. Apprehension stealing over him as he reached into his pocket to remove the disk, Sam held it in front of him for a few seconds to bolster his flagging strength before handing it to the motionless medic sitting beside him. "I—I found some good friends while I was hiding out in Oregon." He finally forced the words out, cursing himself for stuttering. "One of them used to be a great scientist and when I told him I was leaving he slipped me the disk and told me you needed to see it."

Finding the floor inescapably interesting, Sam missed the look shared between his Creators before twin blue gazes pinned his tense form. "And who," Wheeljack began cautiously, "were these friends?"

"Just some fliers," Sam said casually, "I usually got together with them at least once a week or sometimes sooner if we had something going on." Mentally he changed the 'fliers' to Decepticon Seekers and 'something going on' to necessary repairs for Spark preservation.

Slipping down from the berth, Ratchet stared down at the silver disk suspiciously. Opening the door to his office, he quickly connected it to his terminal and waited impatiently for the information to be brought up onscreen. As neatly arranged of rows of Cybertronian glyphs appeared on the screen, the medic thought for a moment that his processor would lock up in shock. Recognizing the dialect as the one used for official texts, Ratchet's optics scanned the information before standing abruptly, his chair falling to the floor as he slammed out of his office.

Optics locking on the slender form still sitting on the operating berth talking to Wheeljack, Ratchet pulled a foam ball from subspace. Taking careful aim, he threw it with enough to topple the young man over backwards from the force but not enough to injure him. "Did the logic portion of your processor malfunction?" He roared, ignoring the questioning probes his bond mate was giving him through their bond. "You let the fraggin' Second in Command of the Primus-forsaken Decepticon forces _examine_ you? Even going so far as to let him take blood samples for analysis?"

"It wasn't like there was anyone else going to do it for me!" Sam yelled back, his hands clutching the yellow Nerf ball. "And it's not like I put up this giant sign saying, 'Allspark next exit' or something! They treated me better than most of the fragging Autobots here ever did!"

"They could have taken you to Megatron!"

"But they didn't! They could have and should have but they didn't because Star felt indebted to me for saving 'Warp." Sam's voice lowered to a near whisper, his hands twisting the yellow foam anxiously as he began pacing. "They let me be someone that I hadn't been able to show in the last few deca-cycles I was here."

"They are Decepticons." Ratchet rubbed a hand over his faceplates wearily, moving to kneel in front of his stubborn Creation. "They hold no true concept of either honor or morality as anyone knows it."

"No one knows it because they don't _want _to and the Decepticons sure as hell aren't gonna go around parading it to everyone else. Their version of honor is a little warped but it's essentially the same as ours." Sam snorted at the memory of the trine telling him about the unfortunate accident Megatron's spy had encountered. "They're just a little _exuberant_ when its something they really dislike or like."

"Exuberant, he says." Ratchet muttered furiously under his breath, optics glittering in barely suppressed annoyance. "Like we're talking about overgrown rodents like Mojo, instead of the best Seeker trine Cybertron's ever had the misfortune of witnessing."

"I admit that 'Warp might be a bit obnoxious at times but comparing him to Mojo is just cruel." Sam said, having heard enough of Ratchet's muttering to realize what he was saying. "But I would have hoped that you would at least have enough confidence in me to know that I wouldn't have trusted them if I didn't know they could be trusted. The only reason they attacked Jazz when he was bringing me back to base was because we needed to make a clean break of things. There can't be any doubts about what needs to be done for any of us. I made my choice and while they don't like it, they'll respect it."

"They're still Decepticons."

"Telling me that isn't going to change anything." Sam's voice was steadfast, his eyes meeting those of his Creator. "I'm not ashamed of them. They made a choice that turned out to be the wrong one for them but at least they have the ball bearings to stick with it. If nothing else, you should at least be grateful that they found the spy before Megatron could find out where in Oregon I was stationed."

"You're not gonna win, Ratch." Wheeljack commented from the doorway of Ratchet's office, his ear panels flashing merrily in amusement. "Give the younglin' a few vorns and he might be another source of terror for any 'bot glitched enough to need repairs."

"My Spark leaps in joy." Ratchet said dryly, his optics sharp when he caught sight of Sam trying to hide a yawn. "I still have a berth set up for you in my office. We can continue this conversation once you've gotten a decent amount of recharge."

Stepping onto Ratchet's offered hand Sam nodded tiredly, his eyes feeling heavy as he blinked rapidly in an attempt to fight off sleep. Kicking his shoes off once he was set down onto the floor, he crawled beneath the inviting covers and was asleep moments later. Watching the sleeping youth for a time until Wheeljack's hand came to rest on his arm, Ratchet turned back to the terminal still displaying the impressive wealth of information gathered in regards to his Creations changes. Quietly lifting the chair from the ground, Ratchet settled himself for a long night of organizing and analyzing the data into something he could actually use.

DoX

For a while there I was beginning to think that this chapter was never going to let itself be written. Can't say for sure when the next one will be up since I'm in the middle of both finals and transferring to another store for work. What I can say though is that it's already started and I've finally got a clear view of the next couple chapters. To everyone who reviewed (and you know who you are), thank you so much for the encouragement and I hope that you like this new chapter. But it's two in the morning now and I should probably get some sleep before I fall asleep at my desk.


	13. Chapter 10

Experiences

DoX

Much thanks to Rainlightautumn for having the patience to beta this.

DoX

Vents cycling heavily as the door to his office closed tightly shut, Optimus barely repressed the urge to throw something against the walls. "You told me," he whispered raggedly as a whisper of movement told him that the other mech was moving. "You _argued_ with me and I still wouldn't see what you were trying to show me." A weak chuckle escaped the large mech in a rare moment of visible weakness. "Too many vorns have passed if I can't bring myself to admit when my own Second is correct."

"The past cannot be changed, Optimus. We can only ever change what the future holds for us with the grace of Primus," Prowl said candidly as his door wings remained drawn up high along his back as he calmly and efficiently masked any hints of anxiety. "The youngling managed to fool nearly everyone into believing that he was adjusting well to his new station in life. I believe that only his guardians and his twin were aware that even the slightest hint of unease existed."

"We still should have known."

"While you are Prime that does not mean that you are incapable of mistakes," Prowl snapped at his downcast leader. "You are the one chosen by the Matrix to lead Cybertron, and while your brother may have fallen from the path laid before him, you have not. His responsibilities are now your own and you would do well to remember that the protection of the Allspark was once a part of those duties."

"But he is not simply the Allspark," Optimus exclaimed as he stood abruptly, causing his chair to fall to the ground, the impact rumbling the ground beneath them.

"Do you say that because you truly believe it," Prowl asked softly, "or do you say it because you know that it is expected of you?"

"What?"

"Do you truly comprehend that the Allspark is now a youngling with strong beliefs of his own?" Prowl clarified as other mech began pacing with his arms crossed over his windshield. "Do you understand now that the youngling is the Allspark and as such will not hesitate in giving aid to any of Cybertronian origin?"

"Of course I understand that!" Optimus stopped abruptly to pin his Second with an incredulous stare.

"Oh? Then perhaps it was merely a malfunction in my memory banks that has led me to believe that the youngling had only just returned to base after a nearly four year absence."

"I may have failed him before but I will not do so again, Prowl," Optimus replied, his large frame settling back into the chair behind his desk after lifting it from the ground.

"Neither Ratchet nor Wheeljack will allow for further interference in regards to their Creations," Prowl leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed as his somber blue optics met those of his leader. "Should the occasion arise that you are placed in the position where such a decision is needed, they will fight it with the last shreds of energy in their Sparks."

"There will not be a repeat of the events that led to an exile of his choosing."

"Can you guarantee that?" Prowl asked as he cocked his head to the side a questioning glint to his optics. "Can you allow yourself to choose the welfare of one over the many others that you have been entrusted with? Can you honestly tell me that the choice between the Allspark and the mechs that serve under you is that simple? If a choice of this magnitude is truly that simple, then I will be forced to resign my position. I will not remain within the ranks of enlisted officers if this is an indication of the decisions that I would be forced to defend as your Second, Optimus."

"What would you have me do, Prowl?" Optimus broke the heavy silence with a weariness that pierced him to the Spark. He leaned forward in his chair to rest his elbows against the desk with his chin resting neatly atop of folded hands. "You would have me protect the Allspark and yet you reprimand my efforts to find a way to do so."

"Yes, the _Allspark,_" Stressing the word, Prowl moved from his position against the wall towards the desk as he continued speaking. "The Allspark that Megatron seeks so desperately to control and not the youngling that is still little more than a sparkling. The youngling has protectors that can and will rise to his defense should it be needed, but you _cannot_ come to the youngling's defense as well Optimus. You _must_ be seen as impartial and fair to those you command lest you lose the respect that is yours by right of fighting by their side for millennia."

"Prowl—"

"You lose sight so easily of the larger scale of things in your efforts to concentrate on the smaller particles of the whole." Pressing the flat of his hands against the desk as he leaned forward to meet Optimus' optics, Prowl allowed a ghost of a smile to flit across his face plates. "I cautioned you against the punishment you chose for the youngling because I felt it too harsh for one who has yet to see the completion of a single vorn. He is a _youngling_, Optimus, and even still he was one barely out of sparklinghood. In your anger and distress you allowed yourself to forget that pertinent detail and assigned him a punishment that would have been well-served for a mature Spark."

"They would not have accepted any punishment other than the one I decided upon, Prowl," The words pushed themselves from his vocalizer as he lowered his gaze to concentrate upon the untidy piles of data pads littering the desk's surface. "The notion that the Allspark chose to take on organic form is one that still disconcerts many among us, and for that I cannot fault them."

"Be that as it may, they have and will follow the lead that you set for them to follow."

"Are you—?" Shaking his head in disbelief at the somber look adorning the face of his tactician, Optimus felt his air intakes shudder as the other mech moved to stand near the door. "You—you truly think that we—that _I_ would treat him in a manner less than what the Allspark deserves simply because of his organic status?"

"He will not forgive us easily," Prowl said quietly as one white hand rested on the doorjamb of the now open door. "All that remains to be seen is if we will prove ourselves worthy of the second chance we've been given, and what we will do to redeem ourselves within his eyes."

DoX

"I'm fine, you know," Sam called out softly to the shadowed stairwell behind him as he leaned heavily on the railing overlooking the hangar. "Well more like I _will_ be," he hastily amended at the feelings of disbelief trickling to him, "but at least it's a start."

"At least you're not lying to yourself anymore," Will said as he moved to stand beside the younger man. "That's always a plus."

Making a small noise of agreement as he leaned against the taller frame of his twin, Sam stared blankly down at the quiet hangar below. "You wanna know something?" Feeling more than seeing Will's head turn to look at him questioningly, Sam continued, "I knew that Ratchet was gonna yell at me because, really, it's Ratchet we're talking about. But I didn't think that he was gonna—that he was gonna be so _hurt_."

"I told you that you should have said something to them before leaving," Will said in an admonishing tone while he closed their bond as much as he was able. "Aren't you the one who was telling me that our Spark's adapting to them?"

"Well, yes, but—."

"There aren't any buts about it, Sam," Will cut in firmly, his arm rising to settle across the still thin shoulders. "They're gonna be affected by it as much as we are, and probably even more since we're still just kids to them."

"I think—" Sam's voice was hesitant, "—I think the only reason I was able to stay away for so long was because I found friends who helped me figure everything out." Slender fingers wrapped tightly around the cool metal of the railing. "They were— _are_ really good friends and I think if you ever got a chance to meet them, you'd like them. Well for the most part anyway. I mean, they can be kinda rude when they want to be, not like most of the mech's here aren't like that, but what I mean—."

"Whoa! Slow down for a minute will you? For a second there, I thought you might have been channeling Bluestreak." Will teased, laughing when the younger man flushed brightly in embarrassment, brown hair spilling from its hair tie to cover the reddened face. "I'm sure your friends are great and all, but you're acting like they're a bunch of Decepticons or some…thing."

"Sam," The older man groaned as he felt the slightest of flinches coming from the younger, "Tell me you didn't. Even if you have to lie, just tell me _you didn't_."

"I won't lie about that," Sam said stubbornly, even as his brother moved his arm away to grip at the short strands of his hair in frustration. "They've done too much to me for me to do something like that. To act like I'm—I'm _ashamed_ of them or something."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Will hissed as he turned to glare at the shorter man. "You're talking about Decepticons. You know the guys following Megatron and generally doing their damndest to kill all of us?"

"You know," Sam broke in icily, "if it weren't for those _Decepticons_ I probably wouldn't have lasted as long as I did. Especially when I started having to incorporate energon into my diet on a weekly basis."

Will's eyes widened. "What the hell are you talking about? I _know_ that Prowl sent you energon in the medical shipments. I should know, considering how much trouble I had to go through making sure no one could use the shipments to track you."

"And what? Did you think that I was just going to rip a cube out of Grounder's hands or something?" Sam snorted derisively as he stepped away. "And of course by the time I figured out that Prowl was sending _me_ energon as well, I couldn't take it because their consumption had risen."

"You could have written, called, something, _anything_ but going to the Pit-damned Decepticons for help!"

"Oh right. And what was I supposed to say? Hmm? Maybe something like, 'Prowl I know that you could get into a lot of trouble for what you're doing, but do you think you could possibly increase the chances of getting found out and being thrown into the brig just so I can get some more energon in those shipments you're sending me?' Yeah, that would have worked real well."

"You _know_ that he would have found a way to do it if you'd have asked," Will said furiously as he struggled to keep his voice lowered. "Considering that he kept you hidden for almost four years, I doubt that asking for an extra ration of energon would have been a real strain for him."

"Does it even really matter anymore?"

"What?"

"Does it even really matter anymore? I'm an Autobot now and they're still Decepticons. The chances of being able to meet up with them outside of battle are so low that the numbers are probably in the negatives," Sam said quietly as he brushed a lock of stray hair from his eyes. "And I didn't tell you about them just so we could argue. I told you about them because I was hoping you'd understand."

Will glanced over to see his twin's crestfallen face before sighing heavily, his shoulders slumping as he leaned his back against the railing. "Who are they?" He asked after a moment's silence. "I mean, I can't just keep calling them Decepticons, right?" A smile quirked the edges of his lips at the feeling of undisguised joy coming from the younger man.

"You know something?" Sam tilted his head to the side as he stared at Will with a thoughtful gaze. "I think you'd get along with TC."

"TC?"

"Well, his designation's Thundercracker—."

"And Sarah wonders why I have grey hairs."

DoX

"Been a while since we had breakfast together," Will commented in what he hoped was coming across as a nonchalant tone, but judging by the glare he was being given… it wasn't working. "So, should I start worrying about Ratch stormin' about the base lookin' for you?"

Stabbing at the small portion of eggs still left on his plate, Sam set his fork down with a sigh as he snagged a piece of bacon from Will's plate. "They were still at the wash racks when I left," he said in between bites of the bacon that was miraculously crispy, unlike so many other pieces of bacon occupying the plates of those in the mess hall for breakfast. "I didn't feel like dealing with the idiots masquerading as medics-in-training without breakfast so I figured that I'd get something to eat before they showed up."

"He's either gonna kill you or decide to follow through with his threat about welding you into a room until you've reached maturity." Eating the syrup-drenched pieces of pancake dangling from the fork he'd been using to accentuate his points, Will raised an eyebrow when Sam opened a thick binder and ignored the rapidly cooling remnants of the breakfast still on his plate. "Reason you're not eating?"

"Think you can lend me a couple of your guys this morning for the first class for my new ones?" Sam asked absentmindedly as he pulled a pen from where it had been stuck on one of the inside pockets and began making scribbled amendments to the printouts. Blinking owlishly up at the scowling older man who held his confiscated pen in his still outstretched hand, he couldn't stop himself from tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Is there something wrong? 'Cause I only really need a couple of guys, three at the most. And I only need them in case my new guys need some motivation and, no offense, but they can be slagging scary when they wanna be—."

"You're babbling. Again."

"I wouldn't be babbling if you would stop talking to me when I'm in the middle of creating the Pit for my new chicks." Plucking the dangling pen from where it was still being held mid-air by his twin, Sam returned it back to its place in the binder before closing the binder and resting his arms on top of it. "But if you were wanting to talk you could have just said something about it and I would have told you that I'll be free later this morning."

"You have a class this morning," Will said as he looked at his younger brother with a quizzical frown. "You've been talking about since you got here."

"Yup, but I'm gonna spend most of the time making them hate my internals and having you there'll just make it that much easier for me to do," Sam replied brightly, valiantly ignoring Will's attempt to correct him. "And yes, I remember that its guts and not internals but try and remember for longer than a klik that I wasn't exactly raised in what could be considered your typical American family."

"Right. And what are you gonna be doin' that's gonna have them hating you by the end of it all?" Will asked with barely restrained enthusiasm as he leaned forward in his seat and grabbed the forgotten toast from Sam's plate.

"You'll see," Sam answered with a note of ambivalence coloring his words as he stood from his chair and quickly gathered his things scattered along the tabletop. Ignoring his twin's continued attempts at questioning him, he waved at Epps who was holding his own tray and steadily making his way towards the table he'd just vacated. Walking down the hallways that were slowly but steadily becoming filled as the sun rose higher in the sky, he paused for a brief moment before turning left into the hallway leading to the med bay.

Humming softly under his breath as he heard the sounds of metal striking reinforced concrete behind him, Sam turned with a smile quirking the corners of his lips. "You didn't need to come looking for me, Metalclash. I would have met up with you guys outside after I finished talking to my Creators for a bit."

"And we are of the opinion that they have already been given their chance to prove themselves worthy of the task of protecting you." Metalclash came to a stop in front of the slender young man now leaning against one of the hallway's walls. "We hold no objections in allowing you to remain in solitude with the few that have proven their abilities but I ask that you remember they are of a very small number."

"No one is going to attack me in the time that it takes to walk from the mess to the med bay."

"We also were once of the belief that the Autobots would protect the inherent rights of the Allspark but they chose not to do so."

Tucking his binder under one arm, Sam ran a hand through his still loose hair with the other, the brown strands spilling through his fingers with ease before settling to a rest on his black shirt. "I've already had this discussion with all of you before, but I'll repeat it again. I do _not_ need to be protected from my own Creators."

"I am not obligated to be of the same opinion, Spike. Hence my reservations in allowed you to remain unprotected." Metalclash turned piercing purple optics towards the brief flash of yellow disappearing back around the corner of the hallway the young man had just come from. "Although I will admit that my actions have little to do with offering you protection from your Creators as with protection from any Decepticons that may infiltrate this facility."

Seeing Sam open his mouth to protest, the green and silver mech hurried to finish his thoughts. "We have already been notified of the ease with which the Creations of the Decepticon Communication's Officer are able to enter the base to gather intelligence on Autobot movements. I would not have them presented with the opportunity to take you from us in an attempt to curry favor with Megatron."

Shaking his head in well-feigned exasperation as he ducked his head to hide the smile threatening to break free, Sam moved away from the wall and began walking the small distance remaining to the med bay.

Pulling the binder out from under his arm as he walked Sam stretched a hand out to tap in the entry code for the med bay as he continued reading through the binder. Reaching over to grab the pen from its place hanging on the thin plastic pocket of the binder he missed the small ball of yellow fluff hurtling towards him until he fell over with a startled cry as the yellow ball of fluff impacted sharply against his head. Looking up through the mess of papers fluttering to the ground as the Nerf ball landed with a soft thwump on the ground beside his fallen binder, Sam pushed himself to his knees to begin gathering his papers as the familiar shape of his Creator hovered above him.

"I should hope that you would have an excuse as to why you left without informing either Wheeljack or myself about to your departure?"

Cringing at the sound of Ratchet's voice vibrating with poorly concealed anger, Sam paused in gathering his papers together. "I got really, really hungry and I didn't wanna go meet with my new kids without eating."

"And so you felt that food was of a singular importance that outweighed the need to notify your Creators of your whereabouts before they, upon their decision to depart for the wash racks, both succumbed to panic at the realization that you were no longer in the berth you'd been recharging in?"

Head snapping up, jaw already clenched in as his shoulders hunched in defensively, Sam froze when he caught sight of the pained look in the blue optics staring so earnestly down at him with worry written into every line of the sturdy frame. "I'm-," he swallowed against the sudden swell of nervousness, "I'm sorry. I meant to just go run and grab something from the mess to eat here but then I saw Will and I haven't eaten breakfast or really any meals with him in so long so I just-."

"You have a radio," Ratchet's voice was soothing; his words moving away from the clipped precision that worry had given them. "A simple message to either of us will do. We worry about you."

"I know, I know and I'm sorry." Sam replied miserably, staring down at the floor as he twisted the hem of his shirt between his fingers. "I just thought-I thought I could go grab some food and get back before you guys did. I didn't mean to make you worry or anything."

Looking back up at the airy chuckle, Sam felt the tight knot of unease in his chest loosen as Ratchet rubbed his cheek with one large finger gently. "You know, I really did mean to get back here before you did, 'cause I have a favor I need to ask you."

"About?" Ratchet asked as he stood from his kneeling position to move back to the array of tools that he was taking to the chance to repair while it was quiet.

"I need Ironhide's help with my new students."

DoX

"—You need to look at the inconsistency in his Spark fluctuations. It's almost like his Spark's trying to determine its own maturity level since there's a noticeable difference in the age of it's container versus the Spark's own age."

"But that would mean—."

"It would mean that the twins won't age until their Spark age has caught up to their physical age or vice-versa."

"That still leaves the question of where the trace amounts of metals are coming from," Ratchet murmured thoughtfully as he looked away from the terminal screen to meet his mate's optics. "It wouldn't be nearly so difficult to figure out if those metals weren't all Cybertronian in nature but they are."

"Have you—have you considered that it may have to do with the fact that he's the Allspark, Ratch?" Wheeljack asked quietly, the fins adorning the sides of his face flashing a pale yellow as he spoke. "We know that the Allspark held the ability to create protoforms for orphaned Sparks without the need for any of the materials nearby, so wouldn't it be plausible that the Allspark would have been drawing the metal needed from itself?"

"Ratch," Wheeljack's hand came to rest on other bot's shoulder as blue optics flickered in distress. "Weren't nothin' you could have done different with what you'd known. He's said it before and I'll say it again, 'the Allspark planned for this.'"

"I have come to the conclusion that there is little that the Allspark did not make allowances for."

"Prowl!" Whirling around Ratchet met the composed figure of the tactician standing in the doorway of leading from the med bay to his office. "What the frag do you think you're doing comin' up on a 'bot like that?"

"I apologize for disturbing you," Prowl said with a slight grimace marring his face, "but there is something that requires your attention."

"It can wait."

"No. It cannot." Stepping forward as he drew attention to the data pad in his hand, Prowl handed it to a silent Wheeljack. "I kept silent on its contents because of a promise I made with the stipulation that you would one day be informed."

"What's this about?"

"Samuel."

DoX

"Before you step off this bus I want to make a few things clear to all of you with dreams of becoming a medic and playing the hero." Stern violet eyes swept over the last group of arrivals that made up his new class. "I am a medic first and foremost. On occasion I have been called upon to act as a soldier but that has always been in defense of my patients."

Dark lashes swept across pale cheeks as Sam closed his eyes briefly. "This isn't a game," he spoke up softly. "The medical units have one of the highest fatality rates out of any of the Allied Forces, with the exception of the special ops teams that are run in conjunction with those under the command of Autobot Jazz, who happens to be the head of special operations.

"This is your last chance to decide if this is what you really want to do," Tapping the edge of the clipboard against the side of his thigh absently, Sam swiped a hand across his forehead before any sweat could drip down into his eyes. "Because if you stay here then chances are you're gonna die out on the field doing your fraggin' best to keep your patients from getting hurt any more than they already are. Not all of you will be cut out to be field medics but the Decepticons have already proven that they have no qualms with attacking the med-centers or with kidnapping the medics to repair their own."

"Kinda harsh, ain't 'e?" One of the soldiers that had been given escort duty leaned closer to the man next to him as he spoke in a whisper, missing the way the other man stiffened as Epps' eyes fell on them. "I mean, come on, what kinda action is a robot medic gonna see?"

"Ya got somethin' y'wanna add to Major Lennox's speech there, soldier?" Epps' voice was silky smooth as he crossed his arms while glaring up at the slightly taller soldier he'd caught speaking. "Cause I'm sure Major Lennox'd be interested in knowin' how ya know so much more than 'im as to be speakin' when he is. 'Specially when ya look at the fact that he's a superior officer an' all."

"Sir, no sir."

Sam tilted his head to the side as he glanced curiously over at the now nervous soldier with Epps standing in front of him. Hearing the almost fearful quality to the man's voice as his brother's best friend and Second in Command did some impressive looming, the younger man shook his head in wry amusement.

"The majority of you will never be asked to work outside of the confines of a designated triage center but there will be the rare few among you that will." Sighing softly at the looks of complete confusion most of them were giving him, Sam pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "The higher your level of skill is linked to the intensity with which the Decepticons will target you."

"So that's it and now you've got a choice to make. You've gotta decide whether or not this post is worth your life. You've got fifteen minutes. I'll be waiting for you off the bus and then we'll get started with the first of what I'll be teaching you." Holding the rapt gazes of his potential students, Sam noted the mix of both fear and determination that adorned several faces. Catching Epps attention, Sam gestured towards the entrance of the base as he stepped off of the bus onto the hard packed earth below.

"You don't think you were too hard on 'em?" Epps asked softly as he followed behind the other man to stand in the shade that the base entrance offered. "A lot of 'em still kids, y'know?"

"Maybe," Sam acknowledged with a small shrug of his shoulders as he leaned against a nearby wall. "But it's better that they know now. Better that they know the risks before they get so far and decide that it's not worth it at all. Because then it's a waste of my time and a spot that could have been filled by someone who would've gone the whole way instead."

"You changed since you was gone."

"Not like I could have stayed a kid forever, you know?" Glaring at the lock of hair that had escaped the confines of his ponytail to drag across his face like the tail of a kite, Sam missed the concern that flashed through dark eyes before it was masked by an almost forced cheerfulness. "Besides it's not like I really had much of a choice about growing up when there isn't someone there to protect you against the darker aspects of war that you always knew about but never really understood until you were forced to."

"Ain't like you to see the glass half empty, Sam." Sharp eyes noticed for the first time the dark circles lining weary amethyst orbs as well as the dull hair that hung limply for the first time in his recollection. "Somethin' happen that we don't know 'bout?"

Purple orbs flicked up from their almost intense study of the breeze blowing miniature dust devils across the unpaved ground. "I was in London when the civilian centers were being evacuated. I thought—" Sam swallowed hard as he squinted against the harsh desert sunlight, "I thought I'd seen the worst of it during Mission City. It's a lot of the reason why when I was given the chance to pick sides, I took it. I couldn't stay neutral when it was as good as endorsing their actions since I wouldn't act against them or even really speak out without the worry of being seen as picking sides where I shouldn't."

"Will know?"

"Didn't think he needed to worry."

"Didn't think—he's your brother man and you be thinkin' he ain't gonna wanna know 'bout shit like that when it's happenin'?"

"And what's telling him going to change, Epps?"

"He'd rather you be the one tellin' him 'stead of lettin' him read it outta some report!"

Eyes narrowing as he straightened from his relaxed position leaning against the wall, Sam watched the first of his students stepping down from the bus. "He's my brother, Rob. He's my brother and I know that the rest of you think that I'm some kind of little kid that can't do anything without him there to hold my hand but even a little kid knows when to keep their mouth shut." Tucking his hands into pockets as he avoided eye contact with the other man, Sam began walking towards his new students with his words drifting through the air behind him. "You and I both know that he's better off not knowing what all I got up to while I was gone."

DoX

"Congratulations to those of you that decided to leave the bus." Sitting on top of the desk in his meticulously arranged classroom, Sam's hands were clasped together in his lap as his feet tapped an unconscious rhythm against the aged wood. "That means that you've passed the first of what I promise will be a grueling series of tests that will leave you ready to face everything you'll see as a medic. You'll probably hate me about as much as I hated my own CO when I signed up but like he told me, 'if you hate me then I'm doing my job'.

"Being a medic isn't easy and it isn't something that you can just decide to walk away from because you've finally realized how hard it is. The medical program has strict standards with the final decisions on medic candidates resting with the Autobot CMO Ratchet." Hopping down from his perch on the desk to land lightly on the balls of his feet, his hands gripping the edge of the desk as he leaned back on it, Sam eyed the small group with a smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "I can't promise you that you'll be one of the greatest medics out there but I can promise that there won't be a person out there who can fault your skills after experiencing them."

Reaching behind him to grab the small sheaf of papers that were stacked neatly on the far corner of the desk, Sam dropped them onto the lap of the student closest to him with a light motion of his hand in the direction of the others in the room. Biting hard on the cheek of his mouth at the outraged look he was given in return, Sam leaned back against the front of his desk with arms crossed. A flicker of movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and he looked up to see Sparkplug's increasingly incredulous face as he flipped through the stapled packet of papers.

"As I'm sure some of you have already figured out, this particular section of the military is run a bit differently than the rest," Pausing long enough to allow his words and meaning to sink in, Sam straightened abruptly from his slouched position. "Signing the papers that I've given you are nothing more than a formality at this point and are really more for the records here than anything else. Included in those papers is a list of the cultural differences between Cybertron and Earth. I don't ask that you understand them like you would your own but I do ask that you respect them. This is one of the few rules I actually have set in place regarding your behavior outside of training and breaking of said rule will result in me giving Prowl the authority to punish you in any way he deems suitable for your transgression."

"Um—Sa—I mean, Major Lennox," Sparkplug spoke up with a puzzled look in his eyes as he held up one of the papers in his hand. "Are we required to do basic even when we're part of the medical units?"

"Good question, but I'm kinda surprised that it's taken you guys this long to realize it," Grinning wildly at the looks of dawning comprehension Sam took the long moment of silence to lean back against the desk again with his arms crossed over his chest and violet eyes sparkling with barely suppressed amusement. "While most of the people you saw at the depot being shipped off to the sites designated for basic training will be trained by your run of the mill drill sergeant; _you_ will be trained by Ironhide. If you're going to be living with the Autobots you might as well be trained by one so don't think that this is in some way a punishment. Ironhide is one of their oldest members and was at one point the head of the elite guard for the previous Prime."

"An Autobot?" The incredulous tones rang through the enclosed room like the peals of bells on a clear day. "You want us to do _basic_ with an _Autobot_?"

"I'm only going to tell you this once, so I'd suggest that you pay attention because Ironhide won't care if you didn't think I was serious by the time he's finished showing you all of the reasons _why_ you should have listened to me," Lips pressed into a thin line as he spoke, Sam tapped his fingers against the desk, "Most of the Autobots that are on Earth were at one point in time taught by Ironhide because he was and still is the best at what he does. Your best chances for extending the current life expectancy of a field medic are to listen to what he has to tell you and to do everything he says."

"But you've gotta be kidding!"

"You seem to be harboring the delusion that I somehow care about your inferiority complex," Sam retorted blandly as he continued to tap his fingers against the desk in an unrecognizable rhythm. "I've done everything that I possibly could have done to make sure that every student I send to the CMO for final evaluation is prepared to the best of my ability. Ironhide's training will keep you alive and make sure your head stays clear long enough for you to do what needs to be done regardless of what little voice is there screaming at you in the back of your head."

DoX

"What _is_ all of this?"

"That," Prowl spoke up dryly, "would be the official records kept of your Creation's travels while in the service of the American military outside of the range of our protection."

"But this is—." Wheeljack's voice crackled off into static as he stared down at the data pad now being held by his bond mate.

"It would appear that on the rare occasions that Sam was close to being discovered even with our own interventions that the Americans came to a solution," Prowl said quietly, his mouth drawn into a tight line of dismay. "Major Samuel Lennox is known as the foremost expert on Autobot physiology and is responsible for the training of the medics that the resistance keeps for the few mechs that we are able to spare them."

"He's only a youngling," Ratchet whispered, his optics dulling as he leaned back in his chair with one hand falling to his lap with the data pad still held loosely in his grasp. "He shouldn't have—he wasn't supposed to anywhere near the lines when they broke through."

"According to all reports, Sam handled himself admirably and was the recipient of a battlefield promotion for the actions taken to save the life of one of our own." Prowl rested his chin on his clasped hands held in front of his face as his own optics flared. "I was able to ensure that Sam received a guard for the duration of his stays in Europe and Blurr for all of his… quirks, is a dependable mech and has maintained his silence for the past three solar cycles."

"He shouldn't have been on the battlefields to begin with!" Ratchet snarled, his face plates tensing with the strain of keeping his temper in line. "He. Is. A. Youngling! And more important than that is the fact that he's _my_ fraggin' youngling!"

"What would you have had him do when the knowledge to save Sparks rested within his grasp? Would you have had him turn away from those in need of his aid?" The tactician asked coolly, his optic ridges rose in mild curiosity while his optics glimmered with an emotion not often seen. "His actions are nothing but a credit to you and your bonded, Ratchet. Youngling or not, he acted in a manner that those vorns older than him have found difficult."

"You don't have any Creations so I don't expect you to understand," Wheeljack finally broke the silence that had fallen. "The only reason we let Sam leave like we did is 'cause we knew that he needed to sort things out for himself and that wasn't somethin' we could do for him. But if we'd a known that he was leavin' so he could head to the fraggin' front lines of this whole mess than Primus himself couldn't have forced me to let our younglin' go."

"I think you forget the fact that more and more of our own arrive by the day." Prowl rose from his chair with a languid grace that served to remind any watching that he had earned his position as Second in Command for more than his skills in strategy. "And while their arrivals are met with a great deal of relief I should not have to remind you that Red Alert maintains a near constant watch upon your youngling in a concerted effort to eliminate the possibilities of any attempting to take advantage of him."

"It won't happen and if it did—hmph, if it did then I guess there's still some 'bots needin' reminders 'bout why I'm the only one Prime'll listen to without arguments."

DoX

_It was quiet, but then it nearly always was, Sam thought bitterly as he squinted up at the cloudy skies with the swirling flakes of snow floating along the frigid wind that cut through the thick layers of clothing he wore. Wary amethyst darted across the abandoned landscape as the snow began sticking to the world around him, leaving a blanket of pristine white layering over the grayness that he'd grown accustomed to seeing. Jagged edges of broken concrete were softened by the feathery soft caress of the frozen liquid as they were blown in a silent dance by the bone chilling wind._

_His Creators were going to kill him if the Decepticons didn't get to him first, he decided grimly as he struggled to find a comfortable place to rest in the dark building in which he was spending the night. Hands rubbed raw from the chill that seemed to pass through even the thickest of coats issued by the military, the young man winced as a particularly tender scrape brushed against the floor in his attempts to find a comfort he was becoming increasingly convinced wouldn't be found. It was the second night of his trip to Europe to meet with the fractured portions of the Allied Nations that were looking into training their own medics to help repair the few mechs that the Autobots could spare, and he was already beginning to wonder about the ease with which his old habits returned. _

_Finding one of the few buildings still marked as safe zones in the area that he and his escort were forced to spend the night in, Sam had quickly and efficiently gone about the nightly rituals that had once been so familiar he'd felt he would have been able to complete them in his sleep. Removing the clutter collected in the treads of the sensitive tires of his companion, he'd set about making himself a cold dinner from the supplies that were stored in the small portion of subspace he'd set aside for food. Stiffening and then relaxing as his escort settled down on a bare patch of cement near him, Sam returned his attention to the small data pad in his hands as he concentrated on memorizing the oddly shaped glyphs adorning the display screen._

"_What are you looking at?" Sam didn't look up as a small smile crossed his face when his fidgety escort walked over to him. Watching from the corner of his eye as blue optics brightened in recognition of the glyphs he was struggling to memorize and reconcile with the others already in his memory. "I wasn't aware that you were literate in my language." _

"_I'd be a pretty bad medic if I couldn't read what your screens are trying to tell me," Sam commented wryly as he squinted at a new word, his head tilting to the side in puzzlement. Head lifting slowly at the garbled mechanical voice, Sam furrowed his brow in confusion before smoothing with comprehension lighting his eyes. Pulling a stylus from his bag resting against his side, he made a few scribbled adjustments to the pad before looking back up with a questioning light to his face._

_"In the Iacon districts they were more formal than any of the others," Blurr said as he bent down to point at a line of glyphs. "A lot of mechs don't care much for remembering the formal ways of writing." Gingerly grasping the stylus as Sam offered it to him, Blurr made careful adjustments to the glyphs. "Most of Iacon's dialect is based on their accents."_

_"I thought those were just a glitch in the software," Sam took the stylus back as he studied the changes Blurr had made to the screen. "But you said they're accents?"_

_"Yup." Nodding his head as he pointed at a cluster of glyphs centered around a single accent, he traced the fluid curves as he spoke. "Iacon used to be an area where they kept to the teachings given by the Thirteen."_

_"Oh," Biting his lip as he realized the glyphs made more sense with the accents included, Sam's eyes darted back and forth between the data pad and the pensive faceplates of the mech kneeling next to him. "How do you-how do you know so much about this?"_

_"Didn't used to be that all anyone knew was how to fight, you know?" Blurr replied, his optics growing distant as he lifted his head to watch the wind play with a few dead leaves dancing across the snow. "I used to take messages between cities. I was one of the best runners Cybertron had and a runner's gotta know the different dialects if he wants to get the message sent!"_

Waking with a gasp as he pulled at the sheets tangled around his legs, Sam shoved the covers away in a desperate attempt to stand. Stumbling as he caught the corner of his bed with his toe, quiet curses trailed behind him before the dim light of the bathroom filled the room. Fumbling for a moment with the faucets as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light, Sam splashed water on his face before turning the water off. Standing there with his hands gripping the edge of the wash basin and water trickling slowly down his face, Sam felt the name roll off his tongue even as he moved away from the sink.

"Blurr."

DoX

"_**Senator! Senator! Just a moment of your time, please!"**_

"_**I have only a few minutes but they're yours." A middle-aged man smiled at the multitude of cameras surrounding him, tired hazel eyes peering out from behind the glasses perched on the very tip of his nose as a light rain continued to fall on his thinning salt and pepper hair. **_

"_**Senator Hayes, sources close to the White House have confirmed that congress has convened in a special session for the sole purpose of reintroducing the Food Rationing Program to the American people-what can you tell us about that?"**_

_**His hazel eyes darkening to become a muddy brown with the turmoil swirling within them, Senator Hayes paused a moment to sweep his gaze over the small crowd of reporters gathered around him. "I know the idea of rationing is the last thing that the American people want to hear about, but we're facing something that our grandfather's never even dared to dream about." The wrinkles around his lips and across his forehead seemed to tighten for a moment as Senator Hayes took a breath to steady himself before continuing. "As a nation we are being faced with the all too real truths that come with being the sole remaining superpower left in the world. Signing a treaty with the Autobots is most likely the only thing that's kept us from being crushed like so many of our sister countries have been. America is now being faced with the choice of using less to protect a greater number of her people. Everyday our borders are opened to more and more refugees that come to us lookin' for the safety that their countries couldn't give them. Our forefathers once declared this land to be the 'land of the free,' and as a people we hold a responsibility to uphold those ideals that have stood as our guiding principals."**_

"_**Does this have any connection to the recent rise in the number of raids that are being conducted across America by the Decepticon forces?" **_

"_**I don't think it would be too much of a stretch when I say that this is something that we could have never imagined happening." Pulling his glasses off the senator reached up with his other hand rub at the bridge of his nose in an attempt to alleviate the building headache. "But we have the facts in front of us that say without rationing, we're going to be losing this war just as much as the rest of the world is. The plain and simple truth is that there're some days it's all we can do to make sure that we have ample supplies for our bases outside of the bases run in conjunction with our Autobot allies."**_

"_**Senator—"**_

"_**I think," the senator raised his voice slightly to be heard over the reporter's whisper, "that we're swiftly reaching the end of the road, and if we're going to survive then some sacrifices are going to have to be made. It might not be the most popular decision that can be made but I'll be damned to the darkest pit in hell before I let America die when there was somethin' I coulda done to stop it."**_

"How long do you think you can keep on avoiding each other? Until you lose him completely?"

DoX

Okay so a few of you gave me reviews but no emails. I hate to respond to everyone else and ignore you guys so here's the responses:

Lily: Thanks for the review and I hope the wait wasn't too long?

Lisa: Thank you for the wonderful review! I was kinda upset when I realized that Sam couldn't be neutral anymore but I think it'll work out better this way in the long run.

Lone Wolf: Thanks for the review. Megatron? Maybe. Possibly. And the Decepticons reactions will be included... eventually.


	14. Interlude The Talk

The Talk

Betaed by the wonderful Rainlightautumn because I have major issues with all that grammar stuff.

Summary: Ratchet gives Sam 'The Talk' after it becomes apparent that someone needs to.

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean what am I talking about?" Will asked with a look of confusion on his face as he turned to stare at his younger brother. "I told you, it's that time of the month and since Sarah's kicked me to the couch I'm gonna be staying here for a couple of days."

"Yes," Sam snapped, his arms crossing over his chest as he glared at the other man. "I understood that part. What I don't understand is what you mean by 'that time of the month'."

Will tried to stop it. He really did try to stop his jaw from reaching his collarbone as he gaped at the brown haired man who was now stabbing at his mashed potatoes with a look of absolute concentration. Swallowing against the sudden surge of dryness invading his mouth, Will set his fork down slowly and with care to avoid clinking against the rim of his tray and thus drawing attention to himself. Sliding from his chair while exchanging glances with a wide eyed Epps, who was seated next to his brother, the older man stealthily stole his way to the mess entrance. Dark glares, coupled with a hand placed meaningfully to the gun still on his thigh in its holster, convinced everyone to keep quiet about his exit while Sam contented himself with stabbing the mystery meat with a fervor that suggested it was about to crawl off his plate.

"I won't feel bad," Will muttered to himself feverishly as he shivered and dodged through the throng of mechs cluttering the halls. "I won't feel bad at all cause this isn't my fault. It's Bumblebee's fault. So if anyone should feel guilty about this, it should be him."

Tapping the code into the keypad placed at chest level for the few (and he really did mean _few_) humans granted the code for the med bay with trembling fingers that refused to still, Will took a deep breath before sliding through the opening med bay doors. Shoving his hands into his pockets when he realized that he was tugging nervously on the cuff of his jacket sleeves, he followed the sounds of voices to the back part of the med bay where Ratchet had his office. Kicking the heel of his foot against the door as he walked into the office, Will watched as the conversation came to a halt with his adoptive (and really, Sam couldn't have picked someone who was just a little less terrifying?) Creator staring down at him.

"Sam doesn't have a fucking clue about the way humans have kids," Will blurted out with a tint of red rising in his cheeks. "I'm just the brother so as our Creator it's your responsibility. Have fun!" Turning around to race out of the med bay before Ratchet could absorb the entirety of his statement and detain him for questioning, Will could have sworn he'd heard Wheeljack beginning to giggle as the doors slid shut behind him.

OmG

Sam was beginning to get worried. For the past week, the only sign of his Creator had been the yelled hellos and goodbyes that echoed down the hallways as the large yellow mech scurried to the med bay with his hands filled with what looked like folded papers. Weirder still were the looks that Wheeljack would give him before giving into laughter, his ear panels flashing merrily in amusement as he leaned against his worktable for support. Maybe it was a virus? It had to be a virus because he'd noticed Will giving him sympathetic looks when he thought the other wasn't looking, and the amount of physical contact between them had increased as well.

Hmm. Maybe _he_ was the one with the virus. It would explain Ratchet and Will's recent… quirks, but really didn't explain a thing about Wheeljack's. But then again, it was Wheeljack they were talking about, and everyone knew that Wheeljack had to be a little addled from all of the explosions he'd caused as well as the blunt force trauma that came via wrench hurled by enraged medic. Setting his data pad back onto the desk that Ratchet had found for him, Sam tapped the tip of the stylus against his lips as he stared absently up at the ceiling of the quarters he shared with Ratchet and Wheeljack.

Tipping the chair onto its rear two legs as he leaned back, the young man used his legs to rock himself back and forth as he contemplated the complete and utter _weirdness_ of his family lately. Utterly absorbed in his thoughts, Sam failed to hear the front door of their quarters opening, followed shortly by the heavy footfalls of Ratchet as the mech made his way through the small living area to the recharge areas of their quarters. "Sam!" An undignified squeak escaping him as he fell backwards, Sam huffed in exasperation as he lay on his back against the floor of his room. "Sam!"

"In here Ratchet!" Sam called out with a hint of annoyance tingeing his voice as he stood and pulled his chair upright again before the mech could find him lying on the floor.

"Good, you're here," Ratchet said perfunctorily as he entered the room and bent down to pick Sam up in the same movement. "I've got the med bay ready."

Oh Primus, Sam thought to himself with a kernel of fear beginning to knot itself amongst his insides, I _do _have a virus. Cupped in his Creators hand as they traversed the hallways leading from their quarters to the med bay, Sam felt his eyes widen in disbelief at the sign adorning the doors.

**Warning!**

**If you're not dying and/or collapsing on the floor into a pool of your own energon, then you can wait until tomorrow. Mechs with a deep and profound desire to meet with Primus will have to wait as well in the hopes that you'll develop that portion of your programming called self-preservation.**

Curling into himself as he felt his body break into a cold sweat, Sam opened and closed his hands in a furious attempt to keep control over himself. Feeling the sweat beading along his forehead, he reached up with one arm to swipe at it nervously with the sleeve of his jacket. A strangled sound escaped his throat as they finally entered the med bay with the doors sliding closed behind them with an ominous sound that he'd never before noticed.

Littering the berths around the med bay were _hundreds_ of papers. The usually pristine metallic surfaces had been converted into makeshift desks while in the corner—was that a _doll_? Stumbling as he was lowered down to the berth nearest them with a gentle prod in the middle of his back from his Creator, Sam stooped down to pick up one of the scattered pieces of paper and promptly froze. There in bold black lettering along the pale blue paper it was printed on were the words, '**So you want to know about Sex?**' Stomach fluttering with trepidation as wide violet took in the illustrations adorning the cover of the—the _pamphlet_; Sam opened it and immediately felt as though the world had frozen around him with the whistling air around him signifying the arrival of the Unmaker.

He wasn't stupid and he wasn't as uninformed as people believed him to be since Bumblebee had long since taken care of that portion of his education. The original oversight in the well-roundedness of his education had been discovered while Bumblebee had been forging the papers necessary for him to attend a public school like a normal child for once. Discovering that Health was one of the classes necessary for graduation, the mech had proceeded to research the subject before arriving at the conclusion that Sam was woefully uninformed. The paper falling from limp fingers, Sam looked up to meet his Creator's optics as the mech turned on the holographic projector. A faint whimper of distress escaped him as he wondered if it might be too late to join the Decepticons instead.

OmG

Hours later, Sam stumbled out of the med bay on legs that seemed unwilling to support him. Rubbing his hands over his arms in an attempt to warm himself and to ward off the feeling—no _need_ to find a scalding hot shower, the young man navigated the hallways until he came to a set of well known corridors. Pace quickening as he all but ran down the hallway for the door that would open into his quarters, Sam skidded to a halt and fumbled with the keypad before finally managing to enter the code. Walking through the living area quickly as he went to his own portion of their quarters, Sam nearly tripped as he fought to remove both his shoes and pants at the same time.

Entering the bathroom and turning on the hot water tap in the shower, Sam paced the confines of the small room impatiently as he waited for the water to heat. Sticking a hand into the stream of water again to check the temperature, Sam threw back the shower curtain and jumped in with socks still on. Ignoring the feeling of wet material underneath his feet, Sam reached for the bar of soap resting along one of the ledges in the shower before grabbing the blue washcloth floating along in the water around him.

Emerging from the shower reluctantly an hour later as the water went from tepid to frigid, Sam grabbed a towel and began to dry himself roughly. Skin turning red from the harshness of the towel swiping over every exposed portion of his body, Sam wrapped the towel around his waist and walked the few steps necessary to return to his room. Opening his dresser drawer with more force than was necessary Sam dressed himself before moving to flop down onto the comfortable softness of his bed. Shuddering as his mind returned to the thoughts of Ratchet's _lecture,_ Sam let a smile curve his lips as he began thinking of ways to repay his dear brother.

Because really. Misery _loves_ company.


	15. Chapter 11

Experiences

"Ya know it ain't like we ever planned on this, right?"

Sam rolled his eyes at the faint tremors of uncertainty underlining the normally confident voice of the silver mech standing behind him. "Yeah well, people don't plan for a lot of things and they still happen." He said icily. "For example, I didn't expect to go from being trusted to all of a sudden being considered for incarceration because I can't be trusted not to do something that's right."

"It ain't like that."

"Oh? Then tell what it _is_ like then because I get the feeling that I'm missing something important here if I'm not getting the reasons behind all of this."

"Things're different now that Megatron's in command." Jazz finally said as he moved to sit down beside the youth with his legs dangling over the edge of the roof. "Starscream. He's a crazy glitch, yeah? But he's a crazy smart glitch that probly coulda won the war if Megatron had enough sense to recognize it and use it 'gainst us."

"I don't—"

"Ya ain't let me finish." Leaning back on the palms of his hands as he tilted his face upwards to stare at the quiet desert around them, Jazz cycled air through his vents slowly. "Megatron ain't like Starscream so he don't care nothin' 'bout somethin' that ain't gotta do with whatever it is he's after. He's been after the Allspark for a long time now and to 'im there ain't nothin' that's gonna stop him from getting hold of you." Shifting his weight onto one palm as he lifted the other to poke gently at the youth sitting quietly beside him with a distant look on his face, the saboteur chuckled softly at the resultant squeak. "We couldn't keep the Allspark safe from 'im th' last time so we sent it out into space hopin' tha' he wouldn't find it before we could. But you're diff'rent. Ain't like we can jus' send ya out into space by yourself or somethin' so most got to thinkin' of things we could do."

"Oh yeah, and we all know that was just a wonderful idea." Sam retorted sarcastically as he rose to his feet and turned to face the still seated mech. "You all got so fucking caught up in your ideas on how to protect me that you forgot that I'm a fucking person and not some fragging cube lacking the means to communicate to you all just how idiotic you all are! I had to go to _Keller_ for help because I wanted to protect myself and get away from everyone. He made me pay for it but he at least accepted the fact that I'm not a kid that needs someone to hold my hand!"

A look of pain crossed Jazz's face. "Ya think I ain't figured tha' out? Primus help me if Prowl ain't been so fragged off wit' me tha' I spent more time rechargin' in th' rec room than I did in our quarters."

"And this is my fault, how?" Sam demanded his face slowly begin to flush with anger. "I didn't tell you to do a damn thing other than leave me alone! That's all I wanted was a chance to just be left alone without having to worry that I was gonna be found or that I needed to start running again."

"It ain't yo' fault." Jazz said heavily as he shifted his weight to one hand to rub at his faceplates wearily. "It ain't no one's fault but ours 'cause we got so caught up in actin' like we was superior cause of how short your lives be."

Arms crossed over him chest, Sam kicked a stray pebble off of the rooftop into the soft dirt below before sinking to the ground with a pensive look on his face. "At least you're being honest with me." Laughing softly as he leaned back to lie on the roof with his arms folded beneath his head, Sam smiled shakily. "You know, I would have killed for you guys to have been this honest with me a few years back. It would have—it would have made things different, right?"

"Ain't no one who knows somethin' like that 'cept maybe Primus." Jazz countered thoughtfully. "Best to worry 'bout the present than 'bout somethin' that you can't change. We all messed up an' some of us more'n others an' ain't nothin' gonna change that no matter how much ya sit there wishin' to Primus that it were different."

Sam snorted. "Yeah because Primus seems to take your side more than he does mine." The youth muttered to himself under his breath, keenly aware of the assessing gaze fixed on him. "It's not fucking fair! You guys are the ones who acted like I'd done something horrible instead of doing something that needed to be done. I don't get it! I just don't get why he thinks that it's so important that I stay near you guys like he wants me to."

"That th' only reason ya came back?" Jazz asked slowly, his words chosen with a care not normally associated with him outside of missions. "I mean, ain't like I'm gonna complain or somethin' but if that's th' only reason yer here—."

"I missed my Creators." Sam said bluntly, a tinge of red staining his cheeks as he picked absently at the scab on the back of his hand. "I've been told that it's normal to miss them and—and it's not like I'm used to any of this family thing. I haven't been for a long time and sometimes I forget that I don't need to run anymore because they'll protect me like—like my mom did."

"Your mom. Ain't she the one you was tellin' us that she used to keep a bat next to the door of your dwelling?"

"Yeah." Sam said with a small sigh while a bittersweet smile played along his lips. "My mom was nuts about having something there that she could use to beat someone over the head with if they came into our house. She said that if she needed to use the bat then they deserved it because they probably shouldn't have been where they were in the first place."

"Sounds like a good… mom." Jazz said his vocalizer freezing on the unfamiliar word. "You don't ever talk 'bout her much."

"Heh. It's because I don't like to." Sam admitted as his smile drifted away. "I don't have too many memories of her that aren't—that aren't," blowing a strand of hair away from his face in exasperation, Sam bit his bottom lip.

"Ya know, it don't hurt for you to talk 'bout stuff 'stead of keepin' them all locked up like you been doin'." Jazz admonished while sitting up and removing his visor in the same movement. "Bee tol' us 'bout you seein' what happened to your Creators 'fore he could get to you. Ya think th' rest of us ain't seen stuff that we wish we hadn't?"

"That's different."

"Diff'rent how?" The silver mech pushed. "Ya think I don't got times where I get pulled outta recharge whimperin' cause I can't forget how my Creators were some of the first th' 'Cons went after on account of me bein' wit' Optimus stead o' stayin' wit' th' Lord High Protector like I woulda if I didn't have Prowl there tellin' me tha' somethin' wasn't right long afore Optimus got it into his processor tha' somethin' was wrong?"

"It's different because you didn't see them die!" Sam shouted as he pushed himself back to his feet with his hands clenching and unclenching with the force of the emotions coursing through him. "It's different because you don't have to _hear_ them. You don't have to hear your mother ordering you to run because she realizes what's going on way before you do because you're just a kid. A stupid kid who can't do anything but run because there's your mother telling you to do something and you know—you _know_ that if you're ever going to listen to her without arguing then it has to be now. And then because you're stupid you turn around because there's this part of you that's too scared to go alone."

"Sam--."

"No. Shut up. Just shut up. You wanted to know, right?" Sam asked with a slightly hysterical tone to his voice as he spoke. "You want to know what I saw when I turned around? Fine. She was just there with her eyes closed and there was this look on her face like—like everything was okay. Like I hadn't just lost everything because of a fragging war that I didn't even know about! She didn't fight them. There wasn't anything except the sounds of her dying and I hate her for it, okay! And it's not fair! It's not fucking fair that you can sit there and act like you've actually got the right to ask me about this stuff anymore because you don't."

Optics widening, Jazz threw his visor into subspace as he leant forward and grabbed hold of Sam in a gentle grip that had the youth struggling wildly and cursing with language that would have Ratchet horrified. "Sam—slaggit Sam, ya gotta calm down, man." Spark hammering wildly in his casing as he registered the trail of tears flowing down the reddened face as the light from the moon reflected off of it Jazz began humming in a low tone. Mindful of the still struggling form in his clawed hand, Jazz wedged the claw of his other hand in between the ones holding onto Sam and began to rub slowly across the youngling's back. "I know I ain't got a right to ask ya 'bout anythin' anymore but ya ain't—ya ain't seen this from we was standin', Sam." Optics dimming momentarily as the memories of frantic transmissions to a headset found thrown against the remnants of a crumbled wall that had once been a building filled him. "We—we couldn't get a hold o' ya an' then we found your set where ya'd thrown it an' I—I was thinkin' that we wasn't gonna find ya again."

"They didn't kill me. They didn't do anything to me." Sam finally replied wearily as though all of his energy had been expended in fighting to release himself from Jazz's hold. "Why can't you guys see that?"

"Prob'ly for th' same reasons that you ain't seein' why we was so upset to begin with." Loosening his hold on the youngling as he lowered him back down to the ground, Jazz pulled his visor from subspace and replaced it back on his face. "Ain't no way ya coulda known that they weren't gonna do somethin' like take ya off to Megatron, Sam. I 'spect ya understand a bit more now than ya did back then 'cause of ya runnin' off like ya did an' I 'spect ya understand a bit more of what they can do when they're lookin' for somethin'."

"You wanna know something funny?" Sam asked with his back to the mech. "A couple of years ago I probably would have come running back if you had bothered to tell me this sooner." Shoving his hands into his pocket as he rocked back onto the heels of his feet, Sam's voice lowered. "You think Will didn't tell me everything that went on here while I was gone? You really think I'm so fragging stupid that I can't figure out when I'm being used because it's convenient and you've finally had the truth shoved into your face in a manner that you can't just ignore." Snorting as he allowed the soles of his feet to scuff across the ground as he moved to the open door leading back into the base, Sam shook his head. "You're fragging glitched if you think I'm stupid enough to just let you back into my life like this. Trust isn't a right, Jazz. It's something that's earned and you're as far away from that right now as you can get without being Megatron."

"Then I'll jus' tryin' to get it back 'til I do." Jazz replied smoothly, his mouth quirking upwards into a smile as the sounds of footsteps stopped abruptly. "Ain't nothin' 'round tha' ya can't fix if ya ain't willin' to work for it. An' some things are jus' too important t'let go 'cause of someone bein' an idiot."

"Don't say things you don't mean, Jazz."

"Who said I don't mean it?" Servos whirring as he lowered himself back down to the ground the saboteur listened intently to the sounds of hesitant footsteps moving towards him. "Ain't gonna sit 'round an' act like I ain't been an aft on account of things happenin' th' way they did. Sometimes things end up going to the Pit cause of somethin' ya did an' then what counts is whether you're willin' to fix it or not. It counts cause of how important somethin' really is to ya. Ya think this is th' first time that Prowl's been so fragged off wit' me tha' I been rechargin' outside our quarters?"

"I can't promise you anything." Sam said warily as he shuffled back towards the mech and away from the door.

"An' I won't ask you to neither." Jazz replied smoothly as he watched the youth carefully sitting down upon the rooftop again.

DoX

He liked mornings. He honestly liked mornings because most people were still in that place between being awake and still half-way asleep. He liked mornings even better when his brother wasn't there shaking him awake before his slagging alarm clock even went off. Growling softly as he swatted violently in the general direction of the idiot shaking him awake before he _wanted_ to be awake Sam shifted in bed before grabbing a pillow off of the little mound on his bed he threw it at his annoying brother and smirked in vicious satisfaction at the muttered oath. Burrowing his head under his pillow with a soft sigh of contentment as the outside noises drifted away into nothingness, Sam drifted off into sleep again.

Standing to the side of the bed Will shook his head with a rueful smile tugging at the edges of his lips as he stared down at the sheet covered form of his twin. Rolling his eyes skyward for a brief moment before reaching out and snagging a hold of the blanket with both hands. Snickering as Sam tumbled to the floor alongside of the sheet he'd been wrapped in, Will let the sheet flow to the ground as he sat down on the bed with a self-satisfied expression adorning his face as he scooted back on the bed far enough to lean against the wall. Laughing in outright amusement as Sam stood only to trip as he tangled his feet in the sheet still on the floor; Will leant down to offer a hand up to the glowering youth. Grunting in pain as Sam flopped onto the bed beside him with his elbow conveniently jabbing him in the stomach just below his ribcage Will cuffed the younger man upside the head.

"This is the thanks that I get for waking you up?" Will grumbled as he glared over at the teen settling himself comfortably on the rumpled sheets. "Aren't morning people supposed to be more—oh I don't know, morning peopleish?"

"Peopleish isn't even a word." Sam said flatly as he draped his arm over his eyes. "Where'd you learn English? Off the back of a cereal box?"

"That hurts, Sam." Will lifted an arm to settle over his chest in the general vicinity of his heart with a dramatic flair as he lifted his eyes heavenward. "I'll have you know it was a Crackerjack's box." Listening as Sam's breathing began to even into sleep, Will sighed heavily before moving both his arms to cushion his head as he slid down to lie on the bed. Closing his eyes as he slowly gathered his wits about him for the talk that couldn't be avoided; Will lifted his leg before kicking out in Sam's general direction.

"What the hell!"

"You're being an idiot, you know." The older man said as he turned to face Sam with a somber look adorning his face. "You think you can mope forever without talking to him?"

"I'm not moping!" Sitting up and crossing his arms over his chest, Sam glared over at the unrepentant older man. "And there's nothing to talk about."

"That's a load of bull and you know it." Will snapped his voice heavy with frustration. "I'm at the point where locking you and Bee in a closet until you work things out is starting to sound like a viable option and a damn sight better than watching you dodge around hallways like something's gonna jump your ass."

"I don't have to listen to this." Pushing himself up off of the bed Sam made it halfway across the room before he was tackled to the ground. "What the frag is your problem?" He hissed out even as he drove his elbow back into Will's gut in an attempt to get free.

"How long are you planning on running, Sam?" Grappling with the younger man as he struggled to pin him, Will yelped in pain as slightly uneven teeth sunk down into his hand. "You little shit! No biting!"

"Let me go!" Sam yelled as his feet scrabbled to find leverage enough to turn over. "It's none of your fragging business!"

"The hell it isn't." Will spat as he finally managed to turn Sam over and pin his wrists above his head with his weight resting heavily on the youth's legs. "You're an idiot if you think I'm gonna just stand back and watch you mope around like you're the first person to ever have an argument. Arguments aren't the end of the world and I ain't gonna stand back and watch you fuck this up because you're too scared to face it. You've got a choice Sam and it's not something that I can tell you what to do. You can keep running and you'll lose him forever but I thought he meant too much for you to do that. You can make up with him and if you do that then I don't really want any of the details or you can tell him that you want some space to think. You're still young no matter what you've seen or how grown up you think you are. But like I said it's your choice and all I can do is show you what they are."

"It's none of your business." Sam insisted stubbornly his chin jutting out mulishly.

"You know if people could see you acting like this then they'd remember that you're still a kid."

"See?" Wheeljack whispered softly into Ratchet's audio as the medic slumped into the arms wrapped around him. "I told you they needed to work this out for themselves. They're not sparklin's Ratch and they won't appreciate you treatin' them like they are."

"I don't—"

"They're not gonna be younglin's forever Ratch and you knew that when you took in Sam and later Will." Wheeljack said firmly as he gently pulled Ratchet away from Sam's room.

DoX

This wasn't how things were ever supposed to happen…

"We need to talk." Sam said as he stared down at his hands instead of the yellow mech standing beside him. "And really, we've needed to talk for a while but I—I'm not really sure how to do that anymore." A high pitched warble interrupted him before he could continue and Sam turned to face Bumblebee with a torn expression.

We were happy. We were supposed to _stay_ happy. Weren't we?

"I wasn't the only one who changed." Bumblebee snapped, his optics flaring white at the edges with fury. "I wasn't the only one who chose to step away from everything. I wasn't the only one but I _wasn't_ the one who stepped away and changed first."

I never bought into that one true love slag I read in fairy tales but I hoped…

"Where were you when I needed you?" Face red with anger Sam spun on his heel to glare up at the yellow mech. "Oh that's right, you weren't there because you got it into your slagging processor that I was a traitor. Nice to know how much I could really count on you to be there."

At first it was supposed to be for only a moment and then that moment ran away from me.

"Everything changed when you chose them over me!" Bumblebee roared, ignoring the wince that crossed Sam's voice as his volume level rose. "It's hard to be the one left behind especially when all you ever see of your other is the back of their frame as they walk away from you."

You've always been like the North Star for me. If I could see you then I always knew where I was…

"You knew that things were gonna change going in! Hell, you're the one who told _me_, remember?" Sam shouted as his hands danced along the air in time with his words. "And now you're going to stand there and tell me that this is all _my_ fault 'cause you were insecure?"

There's this sickening feeling in the air around us and I can't help but wonder what it means.

"You don't know me and I don't know you. Apparently we're complete strangers who just happen to be bonded to one another." Bumblebee spat the words bitterly with a swell of sadness strangling his Spark as he spoke. "Makes a mech wonder what we're even doing bonded."

And just like that, Sam thought distantly, just like that everything comes falling down like a house of cards without a stable foundation.

DoX

"Lotsa people gonna be losin' bets 'cause Smokey's gonna start callin' 'em in if he finds out ya went an' talked wit' 'Bee." Jazz said as he sprawled languidly in a chair alongside the couch Will was sitting on as the man stared absently at the infomercials on TV. "Coulda sworn Prowler said ya was gonna stay outta it an' let 'em figure it out by themselves."

"Why Jazz," Will drawled, "I didn't know you cared."

Smile dropping from his face as he straightened in his chair before leaning forward, Jazz tapped the TV gently with the tip of one finger to turn it off. "Ain't never said I don't care 'cause I do. Jus' took me awhile t'remember somethin' I shouldn't have been forgettin'."

"You talked with Sam." It wasn't a question Jazz decided as he watched Will's face smooth over into an emotionless expression he was more accustomed to seeing on his bonded's face.

"Yeah, I did." Jazz admitted as he leaned back in his chair again. "Younglin's got a lot o' hurt bottled up. Ain't healthy t'hold that much inside 'cause it gets to a person after awhile."

"They've both got a lot to answer for to each other." Will said quietly as he draped his arm over the back of the couch. "Talking's only a small part of fixing it. What they do after is what's gonna make them or break them."

"Younglin's got a lot more time t'handle things."

"Yeah but they're not ready to handle things like this. Sam's still a kid and 'Bee… well 'Bee's still a kid too. Talking and then spending time apart might be the best thing for them right now."

"Y'think they're gonna do that?"

"Do what?"

"Split."

"Yeah. Cause that's gonna give them time to think and figure out what they really want."

A/N: Please don't kill me? And once again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, or faved.


	16. Interlude Rite of Passage

Experiences

Interlude : Rite of Passage

A/N: I normally try to stay away from including religion in my stories but a discussion with friends over this made me realize that they were right in what they were telling me. This decision is in no way meant as an insult against other religions it simply is what it is with no insult/slight intended.

London.

Geneva.

Rome.

The cities seemed better suited for the fashion shows that they had once held than the smoldering heaps of rubble that they had become. Relying on what past experience with the Decepticons had shown them, the Autobots had advised Secretary Keller that the first signs of Decepticon presence would likely emerge in America. Decepticons were proud mechs, they said, and pride would not allow them to ignore the defeat they'd endured at Mission City. And in a way they had been right. Megatron had sought to regain control of the Allspark completely disregarding its new organic composition in favor of the power contained within.

With the euphoria of another resounding Decepticon defeat at Mission City they'd allowed themselves to become complacent and with that complacency came the opportunity that the Decepticons had been waiting for. They'd struck in a concerted effort against the cities that would present the most damaging blows against human morale. London represented a city that had withstood the terrors of a war with scars to show for its resilience. Geneva held the distinction of being one of the world's most important financial centers. And Rome was the seat of the Catholic Church's power.

London's destruction in the face of all that the city had lived through and survived was a blow to many throughout the world who could either remember themselves or had relatives to tell them of the darkness that had covered the world during the second of the World Wars. Geneva's destruction had left the world's financial markets reeling and stocks had plummeted to the point where safety measures were implemented and the stock markets were closed before they could crash. Rome's destruction had left a vast number of people throughout the world with a pervasive sense of disbelief at the news that their spiritual leader was gone and with him those that might have ascended to power in his place. Within minutes of the first attack word had reached America and its Autobot allies as both scrambled to mount a proper response against the brutality of the Decepticon attacks.

But sometimes even the best intentions can be rendered meaningless in the face of odds that are stacked against you on a seemingly insurmountable level. With Soundwave's decision to take on the temporary alt. form of a human satellite, the Decepticon Communications officer had been able to erase the presence of arriving Decepticon reinforcements who were called to Earth by their Lord's order. Aware of the Command trine's presence on Earth, the Autobots had been alarmed to discover that the presence of the other Seeker trine's had been hidden. Attempts to enter into Europe were rebuffed by the Decepticon Aerial teams led by the Elite who formed a cohesive defensive pattern that managed to rebuff even the most promising of Prowl's battle plans.

Their only saving grace had been the arrival of the Autobot's own Communications Officer who immediately began the challenging task of neutralizing Soundwave long enough to allow for the descent of newly arrived Autobot units into Europe. With the arrival of the new troops, Megatron stepped up on his campaign in Europe with strikes against the military bases. Left with few options and a population that was rapidly dwindling with each successful attack, the human governments had banded together to begin forming designated 'Safe Zones' which were popularly termed as the civilian centers. For three years the lines that divided the growing Decepticon held territory from the Safe Zones were held by the weary Autobot units with support from their human allies.

On January 18th 2011 the lines broke and the civilian centers were attacked.

DoX

He'd honestly never thought that he'd ever have to go back to the times where he'd mastered coherency after only a few hours of troubled sleep but he had. With the levels of exhaustion that his body was protesting quite vehemently through the nasty headaches he would get right after waking, he'd found that he had little trouble in falling asleep when and where he was able to do so. Coherency was just an effect of being in a war zone where a sleep addled head could get you killed because you weren't coherent to move fast enough.

Mumbling sleepily to himself as the car he was riding in hit a pothole in the road they were travelling along, he tried to adjust himself to a more comfortable position or at least a position that wouldn't have his head knocking against the side of the glass like some insane version of a bobblehead. Now there was an interesting idea. Mojo would make a good bobble head but he actually _liked _the rat so he couldn't really do that to the dog that had peed in Will's shoes during their last visit back in the States. Wincing as his head slammed against the window hard enough to send tight strands of pain streaking through his thoughts, Sam opened burning eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose in a feeble attempt to ward away the building headache.

Stretching aching muscles as much as he was able to in the moving car, he blinked away the gooeyness of his eyes and wiped at the corners of them as his mouth stretched into a wide yawn, "mornin'," he said through the yawn. "Anything happen while I was asleep?"

"I would have woken you if anything had happened." Sam smiled as the voice came through the car's speakers, the voice trembling with the strength of will used to slow his voice down to a more normal pace of speaking. "Kup says we should meet up with the other units in a couple cycles."

"Sounds like a plan." Moving in the seat as he reached over to his bag lying on the passenger seat, he pulled the zipper open his hands digging around for the small container he'd stowed in there the night before. "What units are we meet—," grabbing onto the bag in his hands as the earth exploded around them, Sam hastily zipped it back closed as he twisted around to stare up at the sky through the windscreen.

DoX

There was nothing left. Frozen with one hand clutching the door in a white-knuckled grip with one leg still bent and foot touching the flooring, he stared. The soft crackles and sharp pops of the still going fires were the only sounds as plumes of dark smoke curled lazily towards the reddened sky where the sun seemed to burn an angry red as the smoke passed in front of it. Heart thudding against his ribcage so forcefully that he thought it would burst from his chest, he vaguely noted that his body was trembling while the skin on his face seemed to prickle with an odd feeling of tightness closing around it.

Stepping out of the car completely to stand on knees that rebelled against his weight he took in the changed landscape with a look on his face that spoke of the emotions whirling inside of him. Nausea gripped him as he swallowed reflexively against the bitter tang of bile rising up onto his tongue. Whirling around as a loud sound echoed from behind him, Sam looked up with blank eyes at the blue mech before turning back to stare at the destruction as though to burn it into his memory. Ignoring the sounds of vehicles pulling up followed shortly by the sounds of transforming parts he stepped forward towards the remnants of the civilian center. Stumbling through the crumbled bits of concrete he skirted around the edges of the fires as he began to search. Logically, he thought, logically there wasn't going to be anything for him to find.

Stopping as his foot brushed against something, the black boots scuffed and dusty he glanced down to see a bright spot of color lying on the ground. Leaning down to pick it up, he stared at it for long seconds as his hands began to tighten around it in a grip that seemed more inclined to destroy it than to keep it safe. Emotions flitted through his eyes as he began to breathe faster and faster his vision beginning to blur before he burst into motion. Grasping the small object in one hand he threw it at a nearby piece of concrete that had once been a wall with bits of glass still clinging to the window frame. Landing against it with a soft thud the object fell to the ground as he began to scream.

Lying on the ground with one button eye missing, its dress torn and stained the ragdoll's hair began to burn as the fire crept closer.

A/N the Second: Please accept this most humble offering as the authoress continues to struggle against the urge to murder her Bumblebee muse.

DoX

Review Replies (for a couple of chapters as I forgot to do this last time *facepalm*):

**Toki1**: I tried to reply back but your account doesn't accept PM's so here's my reply. Please don't kill me! It's the fault of both my Bee muse and my Sam muse who are currently ignoring each other. I am glad you like it though.

**Sara**: Hehehe. Sam muse is very insistent that he will get his revenge. He just has to figure out how first.

**Catc10**: I know, I know. I kinda died there for awhile. School and work were killing my ability to write and updates really reflected that one. I'm glad you liked it though considering I was laughing my way through that particular chapter.

**Starfire**: I'm honestly trying to bring the Seekers back in for Sam but they're being uncooperative at the moment. My Starscream muse keeps muttering about how they need a grand entrance or something…


End file.
